


Creating A Hive

by AuthorA97



Series: What Is A Family? [8]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Adopted Children, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Found Family, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inappropriate Humor, Not Beta Read, no beta we die like men, we're going on an adventure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:34:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 71,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22267984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorA97/pseuds/AuthorA97
Summary: It’s been years since the events of DMLC. Morgan and Thorax have gone on many adventures in this time. Here, they help the ponies of Equestria through Season 5. Though some surprises come along the way (as always, Morgan’s not even surprised anymore).
Relationships: Thorax (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)/Original Female Character(s), Twilight Sparkle (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) & Original Female Character(s)
Series: What Is A Family? [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/768204
Collections: Spencer Saga Series





	1. Queen Morgan & Company

Let’s get some things cleared up.

It’s been six years since I went to Equestria. So that’s a decent place to start. Yes.

My sister and I have grown closer, six years will do that. We had gone on a trip that Dacy had always wanted to take, but that I kept putting off. Coming back from the dead for the sixth time seemed like well enough, so we went on the trek to Erebor. Darcy had enjoyed it immensely. Myself? I was wrecked with anxiety by the time we made it home to the girls and Thorax. For good reason, mind.

Thorax had picked the next adventure. Some idiot had told him about _Star Wars_. Oof that’s a travel I’d like to forget. Being passed over for Jedi Master was a sore spot for me. It had been Mr Spencer’s favorite movie saga so it made sense that I’d want to be a Jedi for all the wrong reasons.

Lilac and Cookie had come on a few adventures too. Lilac was excited to see human worlds that didn’t involve dying or nearly dying. Cookie just wanted to run and play.

The next few years had been the family bouncing from world to world. _Psych_ , _How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds_ (I’d rather avoid thinking about what happened there), _Doctor Who_. Yeah I’d wrung my new family through the ringer.

But we were Home now! That’s what matters in the end, right? The five of us, back in Equestria, to take on the world and any who’d tell us no.

Starting with Tracy Strauss.

“I’d rather none of you go back before the Queen can finish these papers.” Tracy instructed the family that had only been in town a single day.

I had been packing away a Christmas colored dress. This was a new favorite that was _definitely_ being brought to Equestria with me. “I’d rather take the paperwork in Equestria. Better manage my time, as it were. I’ve got a Time Lord in my brain, I know how to work with time.”

Tracy had growled.

We went back to Equestria an hour later. Life was so much fun when you were annoying people who hated you.

==CAH==

Once we were back in Equestria, the first thing we did was go to my house. I’d used the power of the Reality Watch to construct a new room. 

While Thorax and I usually opted to share, we both learned that I could get a bit...manic...without my own space. It was mostly used for planning, but the space was still appreciated.

Darcy, Lilac, and Cookie didn’t care about rearranging their rooms. They enjoyed all their own things as they were. They ran off the second the magical construction was done. Darcy made a joke about having to ‘ _dust the fucking place, nobody appreciates knives anymore!’._

As I stared at my house, Thorax came up to my side for a hug. He wrapped his insect wings around my back. I welcomed it with a long sigh. My wing wrapped 

“We’re back.” Thorax remarked.

“So we are.” I agreed. My head leaned over to rest on his shoulder.

“Been a long time since I’ve been here.” Thorax looked in the distance from our house, to the Ponyville buildings far enough away that we had no proper neighbors. “It...it doesn’t feel the same.”

“It wouldn’t.” I remarked. Despite it being centuries ago, I remember the first time coming Home after my first extended Travel. The house felt too small. I was suffocating there. “You’re different now. It would make sense that the land feels different to you. Like a dream you’ve had for years, but it’s different in real life.”

“Yeah.” Thorax nodded. After a pause, he kissed the top of my head-mindful of my horn. “Wanna go to our room?”

I giggled.

“Not for _that_ .” He used his wing to tap my forehoof. “A _nap_ . I just did _time travel._ Met the _Doctor_ . Crashed an alien spaceship. I want to _sleep_ in a _bed_.”

“I knew that.” I teased. My hips bumped his. Thorax laughed. It got me laughing too but I refused to stop. “I’m tired too. Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to recreate the Big Bang? I don’t think you do. The _work_ I had to put in.”

The two of us walked into the house, still laughing.

==CAH==

As the first evening came around, I made dinner. Since time had been paused while we were away, all the food was still good. 

I’d made spaghetti, with hayballs (jewels on the side if Lilac wanted any). 

The four of us managed well, adapting quickly to our changed bodies. From humans, to various. Darcy was the only one having trouble. She _was_ using her wing as a hand to pick up her fork. The girls were giggling at her.

“Shut it!” Darcy snapped at them. She fumbled with the fork, sending it flying across the table.

I grabbed it with my magic, passing it back to float in front of my sister’s face. She glared at me. As a counter, I took a forkful of spaghetti in my mouth. All without dropping the fork or struggling at all.

Darcy grabbed the fork with her hoof. She glared at it, then me, then the fork again.

“Maybe it’s a bad idea to use the wing-” Thorax suggested. He barely dodged a hayball to the eye. He grabbed it with his magic. “I was only trying to help!”

The girls were continuing to laugh. 

I laughed under my breath, still enjoying my dinner.

==CAH==

That night, after Thorax and I fell asleep, I dreamed.

In my dream I wasn’t alone for long. Princess Luna appeared in the dream, looking regal as I remembered.

She gave me a small nod of her head. “Raspberry.”

I nodded my head back. “Luna.”

“How does your land fair?” Luna asked me.

“Good.” I answered. “Good. Family’s good too. All alive and...alive. Sorry do you mind if we just jump straight to the dream adventure thing?”

Luna gave me a fond smile, nodding again.


	2. Got 99 Problems, Today Is 59 Of Them

So we’d gathered in Canterlot, much to nopony’s surprise, for the Summer Sun Celebration. 

More specifically we were in a Royal Garden space. For a flying lesson.

Twilight and Cookie were up in the air besides Rainbow Dash. 

I was watching below, Thorax and Killjoy at my sides. The rest of the Mane 6 were sitting to Killjoy’s left, ready to cheer for Twilight. Killjoy and I were eating popcorn.

“You gotta really flap ‘em hard.” Dash advised the two fliers.

Cookie flapped her wings- sticking her tongue out from her beak to show her effort. She looked exactly like a hummingbird that forgot to have color. 

Twilight was like a chicken who gained flight, while also constantly forgetting how to fly.

As she ‘flapped really hard’, Twilight fell in a cartwheel. She crashed on a branch. A bird’s nest fell on her head.

“Uh, maybe not quite that hard.” Dash advised.

Killjoy laughed.

I chuckled, having a hoofful of popcorn.

“Ugh.” Twilight lofted the best off her head. “Raspberry, why aren’t  _ you  _ learning?”

“Because Cookie needed to learn more.” I excused. “Despite looking exactly like a griffon, she wasn’t always. She’s a cat, Twilight, notoriously bad fliers.”

“Yeah. That’s why they eat birds. They’re jealous of their awesome wings.” Killjoy remarked.

“They eat fish.” Twilight deadpanned.

“And are fish not but the birds of the ocean?” Killjoy countered.

I snorted, covering up my laugh as a cough when Twilight glared at me.

“Mama!?!” Cookie yelled from the sky. She was cartwheeling now- dropping towards the pond. She still hated water, she was a cat at heart.

The popcorn was tossed Thorax’s way. He caught it with magic. I leapt into the sky. Flying in Cookie’s path, I caught her mid-Barrel roll. With her safe I came back down to the ground with a dramatic landing.

Twilight gawked.

I smirked, putting Cookie down on her paws.

“Isn’t she great?” Thorax sighed dreamily. Killjoy rolled her eyes. Killjoy yelped when Pinkie Pie popped out of the popcorn, holding a sign that said ‘10’.

I bowed, using my wings to stand me up so I bowed like a human would. Pinkie and Thorax applauded.

“Honey, can we please get on with the flight lesson?” I requested.

Thorax’s face went red. An achievement, considering he was all green.

Twilight and Cookie tried again. Twilight was clapping her wings, but not getting enough traction to stay in the air. Cookie dropped onto Thorax’s back, after barely three seconds in air.

“Whoa! Oof!” Twilight yelped as she hit the dirt.

Pinkie held up a ‘4’. Killjoy held up a sign with a ‘2’ on it.

“Lookin’ good up there, Princess Twilight.” Applejack encouraged. She walked to her friends side, helping Twilight to her feet. 

“Applejack, you know you don’t have to call me that.” Twilight reminded.

“Why do you protest so?” Rarity asked, walking over towards Twilight. “You’ve already given up wearing your crown all the time. The least you can do is embrace your new title.”

“Hey I do that too.” I reminded her.

Rarity rolled her eyes, waving a hoof my direction. “Yes well that makes sense with you, Raspberry. Your crown is more suited on a human’s head than your alicorn one.”

“What about me?” Killjoy challenged.

“Well you’re more of a Lady anywa-” I remarked.

“Ex _ cuse _ me?” Killjoy snapped. “I am _ not _ -”

“Yeah but like, a dom type Lady.”

“...I like Lady Darcy.” Killjoy mused. She smirked at Thorax. “What does that make him?”

“Prince Consort.” I answered immediately.

“Prince- uh what?”

“Well when I’m Queen you can’t have a higher title than me, or else people will think you’re in charge. So you’re Prince Consort. Or Prince, but I like the sound of consort.” I explained.

Thorax grinned at me. I grinned back. He kissed my forehead.

“Lilac and Cookie are princesses though, and we don’t address them by their titles.” Killjoy pointed out to Rarity.

The fashionista’s eyes twitched. “None of you want to use your titles, regardless!”

“Why do you think we came here?” I questioned, leaning back in my viewing seat. “I thought it was time to embrace our Equestrian titles. It’s been nearly a decade since I was given it. This is only fair.”

Twilight sighed.

“Oh right. We were focusing on Twilight’s problem.” I recalled. Thorax elbowed me with his foreleg. “Ow! What was rude about that?” He gave me a look. “My bad, Sparkle of Twilight.”

“It’s alright. I suppose I needed a moment to consider what Rarity is asking.” Twilight replied. “If other ponies want to address me that way, I suppose it’s fine, but... not my friends. It just doesn’t feel right.” She explained. “And neither does all this flying business.” She looked back at her wings.

“I like flying!” Cookie shouted, swirling around mid air above Thorax’s head.

I glanced at him. “You got-”

Thorax nodded. He already had his wings stretched out, ready to leap up whenever it looked like Cookie was going to fall. It was his turn to be the good parent.

“The Summer Sun Celebration is only two days away, and I’m  _ never _ gonna be ready to perform my part.” Twilight bemoaned. “You’re lucky, Raspberry, that all you have to do is stand there!”

“Since I’m a foreign leader, so I can’t take place in foreign...this.” I waved my hoof towards the many ponies around the place to decorate for the upcoming festivities. “So I get to stand on the sidelines, all while looking pretty.”

“Thorax don’t even say it.” Killjoy warned him.

The changeling pouted. “But she  _ is _ -”

“I said shut up!” Killjoy scolded. She turned to the ponies. “All day! All day they do stupid couple sh-!”

My hoof smacked the back of her head. “Oops. My hoof slipped.”

Killjoy glared at me.

“Girls.” Thorax reminded. “Today is about  _ Twilight _ .”

“Learning to  _ fly _ .” I added. “Right. Go Twilight! Woohoo!”

“Okay now you just sound patronizing.” Twilight complained. She ran her hoof over her face. “I’ll never be able to do this!”

“Not if you spend all your time down here, you won’t!” Dash cheered. “Now get up there and show everypony  _ the big finish _ !”

The rest of Twilight and I’s friends cheered. Killjoy waved her hoof in a circle. Thorax applauded his hooves. 

Twilight went up into the sky.

Cookie flapped her wings, barely hovering higher than Thorax’s head.

“Woo-hoo!” Twilight cheered, starting to get confident. Which is really when it all fell apart. She began loop-de-looping as she hurtled towards the ground. “Whaaaa! Oof! Oof!” 

She crashed into the dirt.

The remainder of the Mane 6 and Thorax ran over to her, concerned. Killjoy stayed in her chair, giving off an air of ‘not-giving-a-fuck’. I flew up to Cookie, grabbing the griffon before she could crash herself.

“Wow! That  _ was _ a big finish!” Pinkie cheered.

Twilight groaned, pushing her face into the dirt.

Cookie climbed on my back as I approached the new pit.

I tapped on Twilight’s shoulder. “There, there, Twilight. There, there.”

She groaned louder.

==CAH==

Lilac hadn’t noticed we arrived at the stain glass window. She had wanted to see that straight away- not even leaving to watch the flying lesson.

In fact, her exact words were  _ “why would I watch Cookie crash into the ground, instead of this? I can watch her crash at home whenever _ .”

Which- while mean, almost out of character-was very funny. 

She was sketching a new drawing, by the look of it. Thorax and I were watching over her shoulders, making a motion to tell everypony to stay quiet while we had fun. 

She went to pick up a colored pencil. Thorax lifted it in his magic to her. I took away The one in her claw. “Thanks Mom, thanks Dad.”

We waited a moment.

She understood what she’d just said.

Pausing in her drawing, she turned her head. She jumped forward at seeing at us close, yelping in fright.

Killjoy chuckled darkly from the small crowd of ponies. Cookie snickered from Killjoy’s back.

“Mom! Dad!” Lilac yelped. She held her sketchbook to her chest. “That wasn’t nice!”

“Sorry, Lilac.” Thorax apologized, with a straight faced that proved changelings were good actors when they gave a damn. “But it was funny.”

“Super funny. How was the art?” I asked, standing closer to Thorax. He put his wing over my back, trying to be cute (and succeeding).

Lilac’s cheeks went blue. “It was good.” She stepped away from the stain glass window, looking up at it the same way a fangirl would while silently chanting  _ ‘don’t be drawn in. don’t be drawn in. be cool, be cool, be cool.’ _ “They did a beautiful job.”

“You look amazing, darlings.” Rarity praise, walking up to the window. Twilight came up as well, stopping at my right side. “They’ve really captured your regality.”

They  _ did _ , actually. While the window was there to mostly showcase Twilight, it had parts of myself thrown in. At the bottom of the stain glass, was a small version of myself reading a book exactly as my cutiemark depicted. I was surrounded by a book with Twilight’s cutiemark, and Starswirl the Bearded’s book. There was a crown on my head- the exact same silver with blue sapphires as my proper crown.

“I suppose.” Twilight mumbled.

“Oh, don’t be so modest.” Rarity waved a hoof. “It’s everypony’s  _ dream _ to someday wear a crown and have their coronation ceremony preserved in stained glass for all to see.”

“I don’t know if it’s  _ everypony’s _ dream.” Dash countered.

“Most of my dreams are about frosting!” Pinkie added, licking her maw. “Ohohohoho...”

“My dreams involve death.” Killjoy commented. The exact way Freddy Krueger would.

“We’d better get going. We don’t want to miss our train.” Fluttershy reminded the others. 

“Fluttershy’s right. Don’t know about y’all, but I’ve still got bushels to do to get ready.” Applejack stated. “The official celebration may be here in Canterlot, but hoo-wee, has the Mayor put us in charge of one heck of a party back home.”

She looked back at Twilight, who was pouting.

“Aw, don’t look like that, sugarcube. You get to be right there with the other Princesses when Celestia raises the sun.” Applejack encouraged. “And Raspberry won’t let nothing happen to y’all.”

“Right...” I winked at Applejack. “Absolutely nothing. I got you.”

Thorax whacked my foreleg with his wing tip. “Don’t forget, Queen Thorne is going to be there too.”

“How can I forget?” I asked, curling up to his side. “You kept saying it on the train over.  _ ‘Oh, I can’t wait to see Queen Thorne again. Oh do you think she remembers me? Oh boy oh wow.’” _

“I do  _ not _ sound like that.” Thorax argued, though Cookie and Lilac were giggling.

“And I’m honored. Really, I am. It’s just that the Summer Sun Celebration is what first brought us all together.” Twilight explained. “Every year, we’d always spent it together. It just doesn’t feel right not getting to spend such a special day with my Ponyville friends.”

“It doesn’t feel right to us either, darling.” Rarity assured. “If the Mayor wasn’t so desperate for our assistance, we’d most certainly stay here in Canterlot. And of course we do understand that your royal duties must come first.”

Lilac, Cookie, and Killjoy groaned. Cookie actually fell onto the ground, she was groaning so loud.

“Stop it.” I instructed. Killjoy answered back by using her wing to flip me off. “Wow. Real mature.”

“The Summer Sun Celebration may have brought us together, but it’s something much bigger that’ll always keep us connected.” Applejack walked Twilight over to the window of them all stopping Nightmare Moon. “Exhibit A: The six of us are united by the Elements of Harmony. No amount of royal duties is gonna change that. Right, everypony?”

Rarity, Dash, Fluttershy, and Thorax nodded their heads.

Killjoy hummed. 

Lilac and Cookie cheered like Crusaders.

“ _ Right, Pinkie Pie and Raspberry _ ?”

“Creamy, creamy frosting...” She giggled dreamily.

“I would  _ never  _ leave you hanging.” I reminded.

Fluttershy walked up to Pinkie, souping away the drool with a rag. “You should take that as a yes.” She suggested.

==CAH==

The train whistle blew.

“We’re gonna write you and give you so many details, it’ll be like you’re in Ponyville with us! Right, girls?” Pinkie prompted.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Everypony chorused.

Lilac sniffled, brushing her cheek with her claw. I ruffled her head scales. 

“And you will be with us right after the Celebration.” Rarity held up a day planner, along with some fabric rolls and a seamstress ruler. “We already have appointments on the books to discuss the royal upgrades to your loft and home decors.”

Twilight and I winced. We’d been hoping to avoid that for another...thousand years. I’d  _ just  _ adjusted my house so that  _ five _ creatures could live there. How was I supposed to sort out adding ‘ _ royal upgrades’ _ ?

The train whistle blew once more. “All aboard for Ponyville!” The conductor yelled.

The Mane 6 and Spike pulled in for a group hug. My sister pushed me along to join. Thorax joined once I did.

When the hug-thankfully- ended they boarded the train. The train went off, with the mares waving at us as they moved.

“Twilight. You’re emoting again.” Killjoy complained.

Twilight sighed. “I can’t help it, Killjoy. They’ve only been gone a minute, and I already feel like I’m missing something.”

A guard came up. He held out a note on his hoof. “For Princess Twilight.” He explained.

Spike picked it up, unfurling the letter to read it. “‘ _ Dear Twilight, you aren’t missing anything. Your friend, Pinkie Pie.’” _

“ _ That’s me!”  _ Pinkie called out.

“But I am. I just know it.” Twilight remarked.

“Did I get a letter?!” Cookie asked, hopping over my shoulder.

I grabbed her in my magic. “Nope.” Lowering her on Thorax’s back, Cookie pouted at being taken away from her fun. “Just Twilight.”

“No fair!”

“Too bad, Cookie.” The griffon whined louder. I sighed. “Sorry Twilight. I think I need to take her to our room. It’s been an exciting day, ya know?”

“Yeah...yeah I guess it has been.” Twilight didn’t fool any of us with that smile of her’s. “You did a good job with your flying earlier, Cookie. I was very impressed.”

The griffon paused in her whining. She gave Twilight a big pair of ice blue kitty-cat eyes. “You mean it?”

Twilight nodded.

Cookie gasped. She started jumping on Thorax’s back. “Did you hear, Dad?! Did you hear?!”

“I heard, Cookie.” Thorax replied, putting as much joy in his voice as Cookie did.

Rolling my eyes fondly, I began ushering my family back in the direction of the palace. “See you later, Twilight. Oh and just in case I don’t see you before-”

“What is it?!” Twilight asked, whirling around to me. She grabbed my shoulders. “What happens?!”

My magic grabbed her hooves, pushing them back to the floor. “Nothing  _ that bad _ , jeez. Just pay attention to your dreams tonight. That’s it. And keep a cool head tomorrow. If you don’t freak out, neither will they. Got that? Remember our breathing?” I prompted.

Twilight completed the breathing exercise Cadence had taught us. “...yes.”

“Good.” I trotted off after my family. “See you later, Sparkle of Twilight! Bye Spike!”

The dragon waved me goodbye, beaming in excitement for the upcoming event.

==CAH==

“Queen Thorne!” I cheered, sheepish. “Hehe...what are you doing in our room?”

The changeling queen only continued to stare at me with this chilled regality. The only difference between it and Chrysalis was that Thorne’s coloring was more red, with faint pinks and oranges instead of green and black carapace. When she upgraded, she got it  _ good. _

Another difference was that her expression softened at the sight of Thorax. Chrysalis would have sooner killed Thorax on sight.

The smiling was well earned, though. Cookie had fallen asleep on the walk back from the trains station. She was half hanging onto Thorax’s back, his wings curled around her protectively. She was drooling on his neck, yeah, and it was the cutest thing I’d seen my husband do. Lilac was on my back, sketching more things in her notebook. Killjoy was flying overhead.

“I merely missed by hive-brother.” Queen Thorne stated. “Thorax. How are you?”

“Uh...great.” Thorax replied with a nervous wince. He turned to me. “I’m putting Cookie to bed.”

I nodded in agreement. “Lilac?” I whispered to her. The dragon’s head tilted slightly. “Can you go to your room for a bit?” My daughter hopped off my back, walking over to the small side room where Thorax was taking Cookie.

The room Celestia had set aside for us was more like a suite than one room itself. It came with two side rooms, and one more living room like area. Killjoy was sleeping on the couch. There was a small dining table, where I guess you were suppose to have tea or something. Thorne was standing beside that.

Killjoy dropped down on the couch, lounging back against it. I sat in the chair opposite Thorne, my mind rushing with things to fill the time while Thorax was out of the room.

“So...the Hive is okay?”

“Yes. The Hive prospers under the new system.” Thorne explained in a matter-of-fact voice. “There is a small matter that I must discuss with my hive-brother and yourself.”

“I kinda figured- wait me too? I thought you wanted just him.” I admitted.

The Queen didn’t as much as blink. “No. This requires the both of you.”

“Oh! Alright then.” So I sat back in the chair, waiting for Thorax.

“You can change your form to something more comfortable.” Queen Thorne suggested.

“No it’s fine-”

“Morgue you got that reality bracelet still?” Killjoy prompted from the couch. “I’d like to be human please!”

Rolling my eyes, I raised my foreleg. The reality bracelet faded into color, after being hidden from sight. It glowed yellow. My sister and I did as well.

Our Equestrian forms shifted into human beings. I dressed myself in a nice looking T-shirt and jeans. Darcy got her preferred crop top with black jeans. My curly hair was pulled into a ponytail by my head, while Darcy’s was left lying around her head.

“Ah.” Darcy sighed as she relaxed deeper into the couch. “It’s been  _ forever  _ since I had proper hands!”

“It was a  _ week ago _ .” I remarked under my breath.

“Fuck off, dick.” Darcy countered. She reached for her saddlebags, pulling out a pair of headphones. “Enjoy Royal people talk. I’m going to tune you out with  _ real  _ music.”

“You mean anything not from here?”

“You get me, sis.” Darcy plopped the headphones over her ears, pulling out her phone so she could tune us out right and proper.

Queen Thorne watched this with a small fond smile.

Thorax walked out from the girls’ room. He trotted up to my side, head tilted. “When did you-”

“After you walked in there.” I answered. Thorax nodded. He leaned forehead to kiss my forehead-we were nearly the same height in our natural forms.

Thorax turned to the Changeling Queen. “So...hello, Queen Thorne.”

“Just Thorne is well.” Thorne replied.

“Oh. Ah. Well,  _ Thorne _ ...what brings you by?” Thorax asked. He grimaced for a quick second. 

My hand reached over, touching his shoulder. Thorax appreciated it, scooting closer to me.

“Thorax, how are you handling yourself in Equestria?” Thorne asked. “How do the ponies treat you?”

“Good!” Thorax answered without hesitation. “And not just Princess Twilight and her friends. They  _ all  _ are nice! Starry wouldn’t let me just  _ hide  _ in the house, so she got me into running all the errands.”

“How else were they going to get used to you?” I questioned, just like I had a week before when we argued about it. “Now go get our muffins.”

Thorax chuckled. Thorne regarded us with complete stoic focus. It was kinda weird.

I leaned forward, so that my arms rested on the table. “Queen Thorne. What do you need?” I prompted.

“Thorax seems to have acclimatized himself to Equestria and your family rather well.” Thorne remarked.

“He’s had six years to do it-”

“Eight.” Thorax corrected.

“-so I guess he did a- what?”

“It’s been eight years.”

“No, it’s been six.”

“Star you went to Middle Earth for a year.” Thorax reminded. “And I stayed for a lot longer than you in that...uh... _ Whoniverse _ . Remember?”

“...you  _ did.  _ He’s right.” I hummed in acknowledgment. “He’s had eight years to get used to this family. He did a good job as far as I’m concerned.”

“...it’s only been a few weeks-”

“When I travel back to my world, time goes a bit wonky.” I excused to Thorne. “Sometimes it faster there, sometimes it’s faster here. We never known until we come back.”

Thorax shrugged, a ‘ _ whatcha gonna do?’ _ way he’d perfected over the years.

Thorne took in this information with the same stoic expression. “I see.”

“But he still adjusted quick.” I added. “But, we  _ did  _ date for three months-”

“Two.” Thorax corrected again, now grinning smug.

“ _ Bitch shut up _ .” I whispered, mock offended. Thorax chuckled at me. “So Thorne. I’m going to ask again. What do you  _ need?” _

“I have spoken at a length with the Princesses.” Thorne began. “We have agreed that Changelings will participate in your Equestrian Games. A sign of goodwill between our creatures- with certain stipulations added, of course, so to avoid cheating.”

Thorax and I sat back in surprise.

“Wow.”

“That’s...big.”

“Yes.” Thorne answered. For a moment, her stoic exterior broke into something more exposed. “I will be honest with you, Queen Morgan, I worry for my Changelings. Thorax has adjusted well, that is true, but he was already so pony-like as he grew. The others...how long can  _ they  _ take to change?”

So after a small pause to absorb the information, Thorax and I looked to each other. Darcy always described what we did  _ ‘that annoying married couple thing-besides all the cute annoying things married couples do’ _ . 

In a series of looks and aborted words, we had a full conversation. It took a minute of complex gestures for us both to settle on a decision. 

“I’ll help.” Thorax volunteered. He gave me a quick side glare. As the original idea had been me helping, but Thorax thought that was too much on my plate. 

Thorne brightened back to stoic. “How?”

“We gather as many Changelings that want the help-” I began.

“Someplace big, but not here because that freaks out the ponies no matter how nice we are now-” Thorax carried on.

“-or Ponyville, because that town is going to be too crazy the next few months with Twilight and I’s promotions.” I cautioned.

“Maybe Manehattan.” Thorax suggested.

“Or we can ask Mia and Shining to let us use the Crystal Empire-”

“Or both, a second one will be good in case others change their minds after the first.” Thorax pointed out.

“Ah! Smart. Anyway, we have a quick course to help Changelings adjust into Equestria.”

“Social etiquette, culture clashes, the works.” Thorax listed. “I’ve had  _ years _ to see them all.”

Thorne stared at us, dark red eyes wider than before. “...how did you  _ do  _ that? Without speaking- I only  _ just  _ brought this up!”

“My wife is a genius.” Thorax praised. He put a wing around my back, pulling me flush against his side.

“My husband is a quick study.” I praised right back.

“He had a great teacher.”

“Now you and I  _ both know _ -”

He kissed my nose. I giggled at the feeling of his bright green carapace against my face. It tickled, okay?!

“Alright.” Back to business mode. “You can speak with the Princesses about this idea, and the suggested cities.”

“Just send us a letter when they confirm anything.” Thorax suggested. “Starry’ll probably be sending you letters anyway, about the ideas she’s having about all of it. She’s a workaholic.”

“Bee!” I hissed in a low voice.

Thorne smiles- bright and without the stoicness. Honestly it made her actually look related to my husband. “Thank you, Queen Morgan. Once again I find myself in your debt.”

“It’s Princess, technically.” I corrected. “And don’t call it a debt until we see how it goes. This could all blow up in our faces.”

Thorax smacked my arm with the wing curled on my side. 

“Hey!”

“It’ll be great, Queen Thorne.” Thorax assured her. “We promise.”

The Changeling Queen stepped out of her seat. “Your customs are odd, Quee-err, Princess Morgan, however I will concede them to you. Anyway I will speak soon with the Princesses of Equestria for their opinions. There is a bright future on the horizons for our three peoples.”

With that, we said our good nights to the Queen. 

As soon as she was gone, Thorax kissed my cheek. “I love you.” He told me.

“I know.” I replied, smiling. In retaliation, I kissed his nose. “You’re getting repetitive, you know that?”

Thorax chuckled. He began walking towards our side room. “I can get worse. I have two years experience on you.” He ran away, like a coward.

“ _ You bastard!” _ I laughed before chasing after him.

==CAH==

That night, I dreamed. Nothing too exciting, just a table with two chairs around it. 

“Hello Luna.”

The Night Alicorn closed the door softly. “Good evening, Morgan.” She took the other seat. “I take it everything is well?”

“As well as it can be, for now.” “Thorne told me about the plans for the Changelings.”

Luna hummed. “Yes. My sister and I thought it as a good idea. After speaking with Cadence and Shining Armor, we are even more sure. She agrees that having them participate in the Games while hosted in the Crystal Empire-a city led by the two ponies who have the most right to hate Changelings-would make great strides for Queen Thorne’s people.”

“It will. Has she spoke with you lately?” I asked, sipping the dream-tea.

“Yes.” Luna lifted her teacup. “Your idea has merit.”

“Of course it does. Thorax and I made it.” I endorsed, smiling proudly with Thorax on the mind.

“...has is truly been six years for you?” Luna asked, idly, like the answer wouldn’t mean much.

“Yes.” I answered. She made no response, sipping at her tea. “Hey. What’s with the face?”

“I am unsure-”

“You’ve got a sad face. Like you’re confused about something to do with those six years.” I pointed out. 

“It is only...that is quite a gap between your visits here.” Luna remarked.

“Well it’s like the Earth saying.  _ ‘Better late than never.’ _ ” I countered. My hand reached out for her hoof, holding it for assurance. “I’m not going away, you lot are stuck with my ilk for a  _ long  _ time.”

Luna smiled.

Her smile shifted.

“Oh right.” I sipped the tea. “The plunderseeds.”

“The  **_WHAT_ ** ?!”

“Don’t worry. Well get you and Celly back before the Summer Sun Celebration.” I promised. “I would get Twilight. Fast.”

==CAH==

The dream ended. I shot up in bed, yelling at being pushed out of my own dream.

Thorax jumped up too. “Huh? Wha-?” He shook his head to get the sleep out. “Ugh. What happened?”

I didn’t answer. Climbing out of bed, I walked to the window.

“Babe come back to bed. It’s... _ late o’clock _ .”

“Tell that to the sky, honey.”

Thorax got out of bed. He walked up to my side, staring out the window. “...you know what this is right?”

I nodded. “ _ You  _ would know too if you watched Season 4 with us. But  _ no _ .  _ You  _ wanted to play  _ laser tag _ .”

“It’s weird to watch this on the TV!” Thorax argued.

“You did it fine with Star Wars!”

“That’s because it wasn’t my land!” 

There was a knock on the front door. Thorax went first. I had to take off the illusion of my human form. 

At the door were two guards.

“Your Highness, you must come with us.” One guard suggested.

“Of course.” As I walked to the door, I gave Thorax a kiss on the cheek. “Watch the kids.”

Thorax nodded.

==CAH==

The guards brought me to the throne room. One of them ran off, to find Twilight I reasoned.

Before long she was escorted into the throne room with Spike. The doors slammed behind them. 

“It’s Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.” A guard informed Twilight.

“They’re gone!” The other revealed. 

Twilight and Spike gasped.

“But I don’t understand! Where are they?” Twilight asked.

“‘Gone’ implies they aren’t in the castle anymore.” I pointed out. Twilight glared my direction. “Which...is true. They aren’t inside the castle.”

“We don’t know, Princess Twilight. It seems that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have simply...  _ vanished _ .” The first guard answered Twilight. 

“Vanished?!” Spike yelped before fainting.

“This is why we have come to you.” The first guard stated.

The two guards bowed to Twilight. 

“We await your command.” The second guard swore. 

“ _ My _ command?!” Twilight repeated.

“We’re officers of the Royal Guard. We take our orders from royalty.” The second guard clarified. “With Princess Luna and Princess Celestia gone, and Princess Cadance overseeing the Crystal Empire now, Princess Raspberry a foreign dignitary and Queen Thorne as well, that means we take our orders from you.”

Spike-who has just stood back up-fainted again.

The guards stood back up on their hooves. “Princess Twilight, there’s no time to waste. We need to know what you want us to do.” The second guard prompted.

Twilight glanced at me. I gestured with my wing to remind her to breathe. She braced herself, letting her wings stand up at attention. “I want you to continue the search for Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. We have to find them before ponies start to panic. Princess Raspberry is very knowledgeable on these situations. If she says they aren’t in the castle, then they are not. There must be some clue left behind that can tell us what’s happened to them. If you find something, anything, let me know immediately.” 

The guards nodded, running off. 

Twilight let herself relax.

“Way to take charge, Twilight.” Spike encouraged.

Twilight smiled bashfully. She turned to me. “Morgan. Is there  _ anything  _ you can tell me?”

“This is all...a misunderstanding. Albeit, a delayed one that should’ve been fixed ages ago, but a misunderstanding nonetheless.” I explained.

Twilight and Spike blinked in confusion.

The doors slammed open.

“Your highness! News from Ponyville!” The guard yelled. “The Everfree Forest appears to be... well...  _ invading _ !”

Twilight gasped in horror.

==CAH==

Twilight was running towards the train station, the Element of Magic flying behind her.

I was chasing her. Spike was running behind.

“Where are we going?!” Spike called out to Twilight. 

“Where do you  _ think _ ?!” I called back.

“The Everfree Forest is... ‘invading’.” Twilight dropped her crown on her head. “Whatever is going on, I’m sure we’re going to need our friends and the Elements of Harmony to stop it! I just hope we haven’t missed the train-”

“Twilight?” Spike prompted. “There  _ is _ another way for us to get to Ponyville, remember?”

“There is?”

I whacked her in the head with my wing. Spike was grabbed in my magic before he could hit us.

“Ow! What was that-”

“You can fly!” Spike reminded as I dropped him on Twilight’s back.

“Oh.” Twilight blinked. “Right!”

She stretched her wings.

I jumped up into the sky, flying towards Ponyville.

“Whoa!” Twilight wavered as she began her flight.

==CAH==

“Watch out!” I yelled.

Twilight ducked to avoid the spiky cloud. “What was  _ that _ ?”

“Everfree Forest cloud.” I replied. “It’s that, giant black vines, and magic is being disrupted. Or at least Rarity’s is. In the episode you’re worked alright. It could just be extended exposure to the vines.”

Spike gagged on another twist. He pulled out a seatbelt, clicking it to lock. “I’m starting to wish... we’d taken the train!”

“Almost there!” Twilight encouraged. “Come on, Spike, we need to get the Elements of Harmony and find the others!”

She kept flying at that fast speed. I slowed down, flying over to her front door.

I swung the door open. “ _ Hit the deck!” _

The mares all dropped down. 

Twilight teleported in. She barrel rolled on the ground, landing in a pile of books.

“Oh, thank goodness!” Rarity cheered.

“Oh, I hope you know we wouldn’t normally go through your books without permission-” Fluttershy explained.

Twilight almost answered, but Spike ran in. He kissed the ground, laughing in relief. “Sweet ground! Sweet, sweet,  _ wonderful _ ground!”

“Okay, I get it! I need to work on my flying!”

“And you’re speed, landing, taking off-”

“ _ I said I got it!” _

“I dunno if you’ve noticed, but the Everfree Forest is just a teeny-tiny bit out of control.” Pinkie pointed out.

“Rarity duck.” I suggested as Pinkie’s tail twitched

Rarity jumped down just before the branch could hit her head. “Oh dear! Thank you, Morgan.”

“No prob.”

Applejack went over to the window where the plant had come in from. “Guess it turned out y’all were missin’ something here in Ponyville after all.” She slammed the window shut, cutting the vine in half.

“But perhaps you already know what’s causing all of this calamity. Has Princess Celestia sent you both to dispel it posthaste?” Rarity asked.

“The Princesses are both missing.” The mares gasped. “Hold it, hold it. Look at me. I’m not freaking out, or saying you need to rush. They are both  _ fine _ . Okay? Calm down.”

The mares took their deep breaths, calming down instead of having more panicked screams.

“Now I know where they are, but you’re still going to need the Elements of Harmony.” I instructed.

“I had a hunch.” Twilight agreed. She lifted up the Elements to their respective owner.

“Oh, yeah, just like old times.” Dash cheered. 

“A-boo-yah!” Pinkie Hollander, giving Twilight a hoof-bump. 

“I told ya we’d always be connected by the Elements.” Applejack reminded as she got her Element. “Now we just gotta figure out who to aim these bad boys at so we can get Celestia and Luna back and keep the rest of Equestria from becoming plant food! Morgan, feel like sharing?”

“Twilight’s got it. I’ll let her work it out.”

“Hmm..”

“I haven’t found  _ squat _ in any of the books I’ve been looking through!” Pinkie complained. She continued doodling in the coloring book. “Oopsies! Missed a spot!”

“Half day, half night... strange weather patterns... out of control plants. I think I’m starting to get a pretty good idea of who we’re up against.” She turned to me. “Morgan. Just answer me. Is this Discord?”

“Of  _ course  _ it’s Discord. Who else could it be? I’m insulted on his behalf.”

==CAH==

The mares all summoned Discord, using a spell in tandem with the Elements.

The draconequus appeared in his shower. I covered my eyes with my foreleg.

“Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap-ooh!” He hummed. At realizing we could see him, he turned off the water. “Now, Twilight, you know Princess Celestia said that you were to give me a heads up before you summon me with that little spell she gave you.” 

He poked me on the horn. 

“Hello Morgan. How are those little ones and that new boytoy of yours?” Discord asked, conversationally.

“Great, great, they’re great.” I replied, easily. “How’re you?”

“Well I  _ was  _ I was in the middle of a particularly invigorating shower. Did you not notice?”

“Kinda blind right now.”

“And why’s that?”

“I can’t watch another person shower without Bee. He’d be so disappointed.” I explained.

“E- _ nough _ !” Twilight shouted. There was the sounds of Discord’s claw snapping. I moved my hoof away. “Now Discord. Morgan explained to me that’s it all a-” She grimaced. “-a  _ misunderstanding-” _

“What?! No way! He did this on  _ purpose! _ ” Dash snapped.

“No. It really is a misunderstanding.” I repeated, glaring at Dash.

“Why-” Discord chuckled as a vine wrapped around me. In a flash it changed into Discord himself. “-whatever are you talking about?”

“Don’t you play dumb with us, Discord!” Applejack snapped. “We know you’re the one behind all of this!”

“Don’t get me wrong.” Discord vanished from around me. Instead he started taking pictures of Ponyville, dressed up like a tourist. “I absolutely  _ love _ what you’ve done with the place, but I couldn’t  _ possibly _ take responsibility.” He appeared next to me. He dragged Fluttershy down, putting an arm over each of our shoulders. “I’m reformed, don’t you remember?”

“Yeah, right! This has got your cloven hoofprints all over it!” Dash argued. “I don’t buy it that it’s a  _ ‘misunderstanding! _ ’ He did it!”

“I’ll have you know that I have only  _ one _ cloven hoof.” Discord countered. Said hoof bounced up his body so that it was in Dash’s face. “Such accusations. And here I thought we were friends, who  _ believed _ each other when they told the  _ truth _ .”

He lifted me up off the ground, showing me off like Simba in  _ Lion King.  _ On instinct, I kicked his stomach. He dropped.

“Ouch!” I glared at him. “Right. No  _ ‘surprise touching’ _ .” He rolled his eyes.

I shuddered off the  _ ugh _ feeling that came from that. “It’s not Discord’s fault. It’s a  _ misunderstanding.  _ Once he gets it, I’m sure you’ll all see why it’s an accident.”

“Exactly! I’m innocent. Would I lie to you?” Discord asked, blinking with wide innocent eyes.

“Yes!”

“Um, maybe?”

“Well would  _ Morgan _ ?” Discord challenge, pushing me forward to the group. I was glaring with all the disappointment a relative of Darcy Anderson could muster.

Everypony winced. 

“Apparently.” I answered, disappointed in them for not believing me. I thought that we’d gotten over all of the anger towards my secrets...I thought telling them all the truths I could about today would make it easier and this could be avoided.

Besides...with what’s coming...I want Discord to not have any doubts on who’s side he should be on.

“Well then, it seems we’ve reached an impasse.” Discord began when none of the mares argued in my favor. “I’m telling the truth, but you think I’m lying. What do friends like us do in a situation like this,  _ Princess _ Twilight? Congrats, by the way, on the promotion. You  _ totally _ deserve it.”

“I say we blast him back-!” Dash yelled.

I slammed my hoof on the ground.  **“Enough.”**

Dash’s mouth shut with an audible clap. The other five flinched back. 

“I can’t decide if I’m  _ furious _ , insulted, or  _ disappointed.” _ I scolded in a level tone. “For now, I’ll settle on  _ disappointed.  _ You girls better  _ shut up  _ before I  _ change my mind _ .”

“Morgan-” Twilight tried.

“No Twilight. That’s not fair.  _ This  _ is not fair. I told you girls the truth to avoid  _ this exact situation _ . The Princesses are  _ okay _ . This is  _ not Discord’s direct doing.  _ I am  _ telling the truth _ . I would lie, yes, but not in an emergency situation like this. Now I’m feeling insulted. I thought you girls trusted me.”

Now  _ that  _ hurt, hurt them real bad. Good. I’m gonna be bitter over this whole thing now. For  _ ages _ . Damn it, that’s disappointing. 

“So. If you girls are willing to give me an inch of trust, let’s go see Zecora. She has something we need, so that we can begin to fix all of this.” I instructed, keeping my tone steady. “Unless you don’t trust that either?”

“It’s not that we don’t trust ya Morgan-” Applejack began.

“It’s that you think I’m lying, because I’ve lied in the past. That means you don’t trust me to tell the truth. It’s simple logic, Applejack.” I argued. “Okay. It’s disappointed again.”

Aiming my forehoof, I pointed in Zecora’s direction. 

“Zecora!” Twilight gasped. She and the others rushed to help the overloaded zebra.

Discord wrapped around my shoulders.  _ ‘The latest in diffunctional scarves.’ _ “You seem tightly wound today, Morgan.” He pointed out. He tightened around my shoulders as if to prove it. 

I pushed his head away. “There’s a lot on my mind.”

“There’s  _ always  _ a lot on your mind.” Discord countered. He unwound himself in a flash. “Never seen you get up on a soapbox like that before.”

“My friend had just been insulted. When else should I climb on a soapbox?” I challenged.

“...well aren’t you a regular knight in shining armor.” Discord remarked. 

There was a flash.

“I better be Shining Armor.”

Another flash went off. 

“You’re terrifying.” Discord remarked.

I grinned at him.

With that out of the way, I walked over to the others. 

Zecora was reaching into her cart. She pulled out the chalice for the potion. “I do not dare to use it myself, the results would be tragic. It only responds to Alicorn magic. Princess Twilight, you can turn the potion from purple to white. After a sip, you may see why the sky is day and night.”

Twilight strained to hit the potion with a purple/green blast of magic.

The potion changed color to a milky white. 

“Oooh!” Pinkie cheered.

I lifted the bottle in my magic. While Twilight watched I took a sip. The taste was awful but I went with it. Then I moved it over to Twilight’s reach.

She gulped down some of the potion. She swallowed nervously, putting away the bottle. “Doesn’t seem-”

My vision whited out. 

==CAH==

_ I grimaced as the world around me changed. _

_ “Where am I?” Twilight’s voice came from behind. “Morgan!” _

_ My focus was on the dias for the Royal Pony Sisters. It was obvious that’s what this was. _

_ “Not... another step!” Luna yelled from the dias. She walked out into sight. _

_ I stared, taking a seat down. _

_ “Princess Luna!” Twilight walked up. Putting my elbow down on my leg, I watched everything happen with a bored expression. “I don’t understand. Morgan...what is this place? Why did Luna and Celestia come here?” _

_ I didn’t answer. _

_ “Morgan?” _

_ “Oh sorry, I thought I was a no-good liar.” I replied. _

_ Twilight winced. _

_ “Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?” Luna snapped. _

_ “Precious light?” Twilight repeated. _

_ I rolled my eyes. _

_ “There can only be  _ one _ princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be _ me _!” Luna slammed her hooves down. Twilight ducked to avoid debris. I watched, bored out of my mind. _

_ Luna pushed herself into the air. The moon moved in front of the sun, turning the sky into night. As soon as that happened, Luna was covered in a sickly blue ball of light. When it unfurled she was Nightmare Moon. _

_ “Oh Luna...” I sighed in sympathy, overshadow by her manic laughter. _


	3. Here's The Other 40

_ Nightmare Moon was cackling. _

_ I wanted to say my heart was beating rapidly in fear- that I was sick with worry and concern for my friend. _

_ That I was internally sobbing. _

_ But I wasn’t. _

_ I just felt numb.  _

_ Luna didn’t want my tears. _

_ She didn’t want to be remembered like this. _

_ So I wouldn’t. _

_ Nightmare Moon wasn’t worth the tears, anyway. _

_ So that’s why, while Nightmare Moon laughed, I stood stoically beside Twilight. _

_ “Luna! Think of how long you were banished to the moon!” Twilight yelled. “You’ll give us no choice but to send you back there if you don’t stop!” _

_ “Luna, I will not fight you!” Past Celestia yelled, not acknowledging Twilight or myself. “You must lower the moon! It is your duty!” _

_ “Luna? I am... Nightmare Moon!” The demented alicorn laughed back. “I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!” _

_ Celestia flew off through a hole in the ceiling. _

_ “And where do you think you’re going?” Nightmare Moon taunted. She dashed after Celestia.  _

_ Twilight did too. _

_ With a shoulder heaving sigh, I followed. _

_ Well not followed-followed. More rather I sat on the edge of the hole in the ceiling. _

_ I watched the Celestia of the past being chased by her darkened sister who was in turn chased by a panicking Twilight. The sisters were exchanging blasts all around, with mostly Nightmare Moon firing. _

_ One shot hit. _

_ Celestia screamed as she felt the blast. Though as silent on the fall past me to the floor. _

_ “Celestia!” Twilight screamed. Nightmare Moon cackled again. _

_ I held out my hoof to stop her from crossing the roof. _

_ “Morgan!” Twilight yelled at me. She fought against my hoof. I had to fight a griffin every night so she’d sleep. I can hold back an alicorn. “She’s hurt! She- she could be-” _

_ “In the past?” I prompted. Twilight blinked, still wearing an angry expression. “Because look at the castle, Twilight, really look. Is this the same castle from the Everfree? Is that where we are?” _

_ “Yes!” _

_ “Then why does it still look  _ new _?” _

_ Twilight had no argument for that. She looked away from me at the surroundings herself. After a moment, she sat back on the ceiling. _

_ “Come on.” I picked Twilight up. “I think she’s ready.” _

_ Without waiting for a response, I flew us down to the ground.  _

_ Celestia stood up on her hooves. On her face was steely determination. “Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me  _ no choice _ but to use these.” _

_ Twilight’s jaw dropped as the holder for the Elements rose from the ground.  _

_ “Are those the Elements of Harmony? But that’s how they looked in... the past.” Twilight looked at me. “This is the night Princess Celestia banished her.” _

_ I nodded. _

_ Twilight’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t- no, no. I know why…’I wouldn’t listen to you before. Why would I listen now’?” Twilight guessed. _

_ I nodded again, solemn as Nightmare Moon flew in again. _

_ In silence I watch as Celestia summoned the power of the Elements. In silence I watched as the rainbow flew towards Nightmare Moon. _

_ In silence I felt Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder. _

==CAH==

We came back to Ponyville to find everyone staring at us.

“Did I do something stupid?” I asked them. “Or worse, did Twilight?”

Applejack shook her head. “Nah...y’all were just...really quiet.”

“You were so quiet...We were really worried about you both.” Fluttershy agreed.

Discord appeared in a flash on a plunderseed vine.

“I for one found it  _ exhaustingly  _ boring.” Discord complained. “Liven it up a little!” He popped behind us, showing off a poster with the two of us dressed up in circus gear. “You two could be stars if put any effort into it.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at him. 

“Did you find out whose rump we need to kick and where we can find them?” Dash asked.

“We saw something from a long time ago. But it didn’t explain what’s happening now.” Twilight admitted. She turned to me. “Raspberry...do you know?”

I glared at her. Twilight winced.

“We saw something that would be important for later.” I answered instead.

“Perhaps farther back still are the answers you seek. Another sip of the potion will give you a peek.” Zecora held up the vial.

“You sure about this?” Spike asked Twilight.

She took a sip. I followed shortly after.

Discord reappeared with a camera. “Remember, Raspberry, make it count this time!”

I rolled my eyes, smirking at him as I felt myself fade.

==CAH==

_ The world was a mess of colors and patterns, things set up in chaos.  _

_ I stood beside Twilight, actually grinning now. _

_ “Oh, this is so much fun.” Discord of the past held up Celestia’s tail. “How about a game of ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’?” _

_ Celestia gasped at the sight of her tail. After a quick check to confirm it was indeed her tail, she glared at Discord. “Playtime is over for you, Discord.” _

_ Discord was munching on the plunderseeds like they were sunflower seeds, though he was making an overdramatic mess. “Oh, I doubt that.” He crunched on another handful. “Hungry? Suit yourselves. Oh! What have you got there?” _

_ “The Elements of Harmony.” Celestia answered. A glowing pink dome formed around her and Luna. _

_ “With them, we shall defeat you.” Luna warned. _

_ “This must be when they turned Discord into stone.” Twilight reasoned. _

_ I sighed, flinging my arms up in the air. _

_ “Morgan, what are you-” _

_ “Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal!” I sang dryly, standing up like a human and doing a kickline. “There. Obligatory friendship thing done.” _

_ Twilight continued to stare in confusion. _

_ Discord started laughing. “You should see yourselves right now. The expressions on your face. So intense. So sure of yourselves.” He began laughing, moving into the original pose of his old statue. The rainbow hit him. “Hilarious!” _

==CAH==

_ The world around us in a flare of white. _

_ Twilight gasped at the sight before us. _

_ I’ll admit, even  _ I  _ was in awe at the Tree of Harmony. The shining branches were beautiful to see.  _

_ Luna gasped as well. “The Tree of Harmony.” _

_ “The  _ Tree _ of Harmony?” Twilight repeated. She stepped forward. “My cutie mark.” _

_ “In the middle, yes.” I remarked while Celestia blaster the six point star. “Interesting, huh?” _

_ “What does it mean?” Twilight asked me. _

_ “What do you want that to mean?” I countered. “In regards to yourself, or rather are you asking what does it mean to the situation back in Ponyville?” _

_ Twilight sighed, looking pensive. _

_ “Are you sure?” Luna asked her sister. _

_ “We have managed to discover the only means by which we can defeat Discord and free the citizens of Equestria.” Celestia explained. The Elements came out from the Tree, including Twilight’s Element from behind the cutiemark. “Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here.” _

_ With the six Elements, the two Princesses flew away. _

==CAH==

In a final white flash, we came back to Ponyville. 

Spike rushed to Twilight’s side. “So what did you find out?”

Twilight turned to look at me. “What does it mean about what’s happening in Ponyville?”

“What did Celestia say about the Tree?” I quizzed.

“She said it had a powerful magic.”

“And?”

“And...and that it would control...and  _ contain _ ...the Everfree Forest.” Twilight answered.

“Then there lies your answer.” I sat back on my haunches. “Hey Discord, did I do a song and dance?”

He rolled his eyes behind his 3D glasses. “Yes you did.” He swallowed some popcorn. “While it wasn’t the  _ most  _ exciting, you get a C+ for effort.”

“Yes!” I congratulated myself.

“Raspberry!”

“Still paying attention.” I waved my hoof. “Just...keep on that train of thought.”

“So that means...something’s happened to the Tree of Harmony.” Twilight finished.

“The tree of what now?” Dash asked.

“It’s where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna found the Elements. I think it’s in danger.” Twilight explained.

“Well, all right then!” Applejack began, as everypony was in agreement of what they’d do next. “Let’s go save a... tree. Uh... where is it exactly?”

“I think it’s in... there.” Twilight pointed towards the overflowing forest.

“Ooh-hoo!” Discord squeaked in excitement. “I’m going to need more popcorn!”

“Save me some!” I asked before following after the others.

==CAH==

At the edge of the forest, the Mane 6 paused. In their defense, the Everfree Forest  _ did  _ look intimidating right now.

“Seems like only yesterday we were heading into these woods to find the Elements of Harmony.” Rarity reminisced.

“Seems like only yesterday I was foolish enough to think I should go after them on my own.” Twilight recalled.

“You  _ were  _ pretty stupid.” I added.

Twilight gave me an annoyed glare.

I gave her a smug grin back. “Admit it. That was a clever clue I gave you.”

“It was  _ stupid _ .”

“We already established  _ you  _ were stupid.”

“No we didn’t!”

“Yes we did.”

“Ladies!” Rarity interrupted. “Perhaps there are more  _ pressing  _ matters to attend?”

Twilight’s cheeks went red.

I had control. So I turned my head so nopony would see. 

“Right...ahem. I don’t know what we’re going to face in there.” Twilight turned to her friends. “But whatever it is, I know we need to face it together.”

Everypony nodded in agreement. 

With that, we walked into the forest.

It was a few minutes later that we came across the lake. Twilight reached her hoof out towards the rocks poking out from the water. “We can use those to cross.”

“Or we could walk around it.” I suggested, making a move to do just that.

“It’s no worry, Morgan. This is faster-” She put her hoof down. The cragadile shot up. It snarled. Twilight screamed.

I let out a sigh.

“A cragadile! Run for your lives!” Rarity yelled.

The cragadile roared. It jumped out of the water, Twilight still on it’s back. My horn lit up with magic, dragging Twilight away to a safe distance. I leapt up, kicking the cragadile in the face. As I shot past I flew myself back onto his back. While it roared in annoyance, I brought my hooves together on the back of his skull.

Like a monster in a cartoon, it fell to the ground in a heavy thump. Swirls and butterflies circled around it’s skull, while it’s tongue lagged out on the ground and his eyes swirled.

I let out a grunt of annoyance, climbing off his back. The Mane 6 stared wide eyed at me.

“Do you girls have any idea how annoying it is to try to help you when all you do is not believe me?!” I asked, running a hoof over my mane. “Cause it’s really annoying! Especially because you’re being  _ assholes! _ ”

They all winced.

“Morgan, we’re sorry-” Fluttershy began.

“No! You don’t speak! You’ll make me feel guilt!” I scolded her. “Because I didn’t tell you everything sooner or that I let this happen or that this entire time I didn’t tell you  _ anything! _ That’s not how I work! I’m not  _ honest _ and _ open _ like you girls! All my life it’s been secrets on top of secrets. So maybe- the next time I say we take  _ a different path _ , you  _ listen _ ?” I ranted.

The Mane 6 only stared on, various jaws dropping and rising in attempts to find words. Words I gave them no chance to find.”

“Whatever. I’m going back to Ponyville.” I told them. Then again my word meant nothing so what was the point?

Teleporting back to the village was a quick journey. Much faster than the walk in, anyway, and was much faster so I wonder why Twilight hadn’t given it a try at the start.

I walked deeper into Ponyville. Using the Reality Bracelet, I got rid of any plunderseed vines that I saw.

Discord floated alongside me before long. He wasn’t eating popcorn anymore, a real drag if I’m honest (for once).

“Raspberry! Back so soon?” Discord commented. He glanced around the near empty Ponyville street, save for the vines scattered around. “And without-”

“Don’t. Start.” I snapped, fury growing in my chest with no real outlet besides him.

_ Well...except- _

Discord was surprised at my tone. “Well  _ somepony _ forgot their manners today.”

With the Bracelet, I lashed out with power on every branch in sight. They all burnt in bright yellow flames. The flames followed the specific vines down to their roots. Not even the ashes stuck around me.

Discord’s jaw dropped.

“Don’t start with me right now.” I cautioned, holding a hoof up to his face. The Reality Bracelet was still glowing as I lowered my hoof to the ground. It faded from sight once I touched back. “I’m-  _ ugh _ ! Just when I think they got over it- whatever. I’m going to clear my head, smash some shit. Be dramatic for twenty minutes. I’ll be fine it everypony just lets me be dramatic for twenty minutes.”

My peace made-hopefully letting Discord know this anger wasn’t at him, it was at them- I walked deeper into Ponyville.

==CAH==

By the time the Harmony-rainbow came through, a lot of the vines had been taken out.

Well except for this really stubborn one, that Discord was using for a lounge chair.

“Dude. Just let me kill it so I can move on with my day.” I insisted.

Discord sipped dramatically from a kiwi.

“Discord.” I warned. “That was more a ‘right now’ request.”

He harrumphed. “You know, I don’t even know why you bother helping those ponies. They never thank you or anything. All your years helping them, and what do you get in return? Distrust.” He sipped again, peering at me from behind a pair of sunglasses. “They’re so ungrateful.”

I blew a huff of air from my nostrils, it coming out like a bull’s. “I don’t need their gratitude. I need-”

“Yes, what exactly do you need?” Discord pondered.

“I don’t need anything.” I argued.

“Hmm, that’s not true. Look at you. Even when you’re angry at them, you’re cleaning up their messes for them.” Discord motioned to the vine he was lounging across.

I stomped my foot on the ground. “I’m not cleaning up their mess, I’m cleaning up your’s! I’m not being blamed-”

“They won’t blame you. You’re their  _ friend _ .” Discord pointed out, not bothering to hide his annoyance at the less fun ‘f’ word. “Then again they have a funny way of showing that friendship, don’t they?”

“What do you want me to say!” I shouted at him. “That I want them to actually be my friends, instead of...of the person who helps them all the time? Who shouldn’t be afraid of getting her hopes up then being slapped in the face by the truth, because they all like me? Is that what you want me to say? WELL!?”

Discord’s magic flared. Suddenly I was sitting on a therapy couch, with a stress ball shaped like Twilight’s head in my hoof. The draconequus himself was still lounging in vacation wear.

“It’s not a bad place to start.” Discord mused, sipping on his kiwi.

The magic came through the city before I could say anything.

Discord fell to the ground with a thud. “Oh, poo.”

Now that, that got a relieved laugh out of me. “You idiot.” I punched his shoulder. “...you’re a good friend.” I praised.

Discord would deny it all he liked later, but the praise surprised him. He tried to brush away the  _ affection _ with nonchalance. “This means those little ponies actually managed to save the day again. We should congratulate them!”

He flashed us away.

==CAH==

At the edge of the receding Everfree Forest, Discord set up a big party. I stood below him, watching at the Mane 6 sans Princesses walked out from the forest.

Party horns went off. The banners Discord made fell from branches, showing off poor drawings of the girls. Streamers rained down on our heads.

“Bravo, ladies, bravo!” Discord cheered. “How ever did you save the day this time? Blast the beastie with your magic necklaces, I presume?” Discord appeared on Applejack’s back, staring at their bare necks. “Where are those little trinkets of yours? You know, the ones you use to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison?”

Applejack sighed. “Gone.” 

Discord gasped. “Gone?  _ Gone _ ?”

I pulled down on his beard. He followed it down. “You try anything, you deal with  _ me _ .” The bracelet flashed warningly on my forehoof.

Discord shrunk down to a pinprick. Once he was barely taller than my head he gave me a thumb up.

“Now get up off your lazy butt to help clean.” I instructed.

“Fine.” Another flash, Discord was his normal size. Also dressed as a French maid. “But I don’t do windows.”

I chuckled. “You’re just annoyed you don’t have a window for yourself.”

“Need I remind you I already have a window?” He reminded.

“Yeah. Of you getting your butt kicked.” I teased.

Somepony tapped my shoulder. Turning around, I saw Applejack standing behind me with an uncomfortable look on her face.

“Yes?” I asked, keeping my expression passive.

Applejack shook her head, lowering it at my stare. “You were right, Morgan, and Ah’m so sorry. We weren’t treating you like a friend. We ignored ya when we shouldn’t have. We’re all sorry.”

Everypony gave strong verbal agreements, nodding their heads.

“A part of me is telling me, to not trust this apology.” I admitted to them. Applejack and Fluttershy winced. “That you’ll turn your backs on me again in an instant.” Dash and Rarity winced with them that time. “Or worse, that you don’t mean it and you’re just saying it so I’ll be by your side to tell you the future.”

“We wouldn’t-!” Pinkie tried to yell.

I put my hoof over her mouth. “Pinkie. I know that. It’s a _ small _ part of me. The logical side is saying you girls are actually sorry, which is why I forgive you.”

“Really?!” Pinkie gasped.

“Water under the bridge.” I brushed off.

The pink pony cheered loudly. She pulled me in for a hug, choking me. “This is amazing!” She cheered loudly. Moving away, she grabbed a party blower from her mane. She blew it out, confetti raining out of it.

Everypony laughed at it.

“One thing I don’t get.” Applejack asked while Pinkie climbed off me. “Why did all this happen  _ now?” _

“I have no idea.” Discord admitted, back to his usual wardrobe of nothing. “Those seeds I planted should have sprouted up ages ago.”

It was like a record screeched to a stop for Twilight. “What did you say?!”

“Oh, why should I try to explain it when you can see for yourself?” Discord asked, summoning the potion to view the past.

Twilight drank more. Her eyes flared white.

I leaned towards Fluttershy, who was closest to me now. “It looks weird from this side.”

“Oh, yes. It  _ is _ weird.” Fluttershy agreed with a nod of her head.

“Well, obviously things didn’t go according to my original plan.” Discord explained to Twilight, while the others were unaware of what she was seeing. “My plunderseeds should have stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of moons ago. Alas, it seems the tree had enough magic to keep the seeds from growing up big and strong. Until now, that is.”

Twilight came out of the vision. “You realize this is information we could have used hours ago?!”

Discord gave her a smug eyebrow. Twilight blanched, turning to me.

“It’s all a big misunderstanding, that should’ve been fixed a long time ago.” I repeated myself, from all the way back in Canterlot. “Discord really should’ve fixed it when he was reformed, but I have a theory he forgot about them until this morning.”

Discord gasped. “How  _ dare  _ you! As if I would forget-”

“A second theory is that the repeated uses of the Elements over the years has drained the Tree of Harmony of it’s magic, somewhat.” I carried on like Discord hadn’t spoken. “The Tree powers the Elements, while the Elements also power the Tree. Like some kind of weird energy syncing. When the Elements were removed from the Tree to be given to you girls, it created a more permanent draining of the magic is used to hold back the plunderseeds. Or maybe it’s like when you charge your phone with a portable charger, and it runs out of power, but you’ll need the portable charger later so you have to plug it into something so you can use it again later. Yeah, it’s more like that.”

I beamed at Twilight. “None of that, of course, takes into the fact that Discord didn’t remove the seeds himself. Which is why I’m betting he forgot-”

“I told you I didn’t!” Discord argued, stomping his foot on the ground.

“Then why didn’t you stop them!” Twilight shouted.

“And rob you of a valuable lesson about being princess? What kind of friends do you think we are?” Discord asked her. He snapped his fingers, disappearing.

“Meh. I’ll see him later. Killjoy wanted to play Cards Against Humanity with him.” I admitted. Twilight was silent at that. “So...you found the Tree of Harmony?” I asked, idly.

Twilight swallowed. Spike pushed her forward. “Yes.” 

“And it left the Seed?”

“Wait it’s some kind of seed?” Twilight’s face scrunched up on confusion.

“It’s gonna grow something...magical.” I informed. “Hence. Seed.”

“Okay...” Twilight’s eyes darted around nervously. “Right. Thank you, Morgan. Do...do you mind telling me where the keys are? Or what they look like?”

“They look like stuff.” I answered, giving myself a smug grin. Twilight groaned. “Really, Twilight, they look like normal everyday stuff. The six of you don’t look alike, but you’re still bonded as the Elements of Harmony. Why should these six keys be any different? They’ll be as unique and special as you.”

Twilight became less flustered at the admission. “Morgan. Are we okay?”

“Of course we are.” I put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Just...remember that, for later.”

“You-” Twilight began. “You know you’re not our friend just because you know the future, right?”

“Yeah.” I replied.

“It’s, it’s because we like _ you _ . And I’m sorry I kept ignoring you or yelling-” Twilight rambled.

I shushed her. “Twilight, we’ve got a bigger issue.”

She winced, then sighed. “What?”

“Your wings weren’t working as well as they should have today, so you still need to learn how to fly.” I reminded with a smile.

Dash cheered. “That’s right! And since the Princesses are back, the Summer Sun Celebration is back on!”

Twilight groaned, her head flopping down to the ground.

Everpony laughed.

==CAH==

Dash was right. With the Princesses back, the Celebration continued on as scheduled.

Thorax welcomed me (with our daughters attacking from the sides) when I returned to Canterlot. Killjoy filmed the whole thing on her phone. She had expected me to fall at the attack, but I was  _ experienced  _ with being tackled by my daughters.

The five of us sat in the front of the crowd. Lilac had her sketchbook- like she always seemed to have on claw these days. Cookie was eating animal crackers. Killjoy was idly tapping her hooves on the ground. We’d interrupted the game of Cards Against Humanity to drag her to this.

Thorax leaned against my side, relaxing into my wing as it stretched over his back. He kissed my nose. I kissed his cheek.

Killjoy gagged. Cookie giggled at her aunt. Lilac huffed at us all.

“Is this thing gonna start anytime soon?” Killjoy complained. I gave Cookie a quick look. She whacked her aunt on the head with a wing. “Ow!”

“Oh dear. We should help teach Cookie better control over her wings.” I remarked, completely not meaning it.

Killjoy glared at me, rubbing the back of her head.

“I did good, Mama?” Cookie asked.

“Perfect, Cookie.” I praised.

Thorax chuckled. “You’re being a bad influence on our kids.”

“Hey- Cookie got her wing to do what she wanted when it hit KJ. I’d say that’s an improvement.” I countered.

Thorax rolled his eyes at me, letting out a long suffering sigh. “Young ponies, always so ridiculous.” But his face was one of fondness.

“Hey. I’ve still got two centuries on you.” My wing squeezed him tighter to me. “You whipper snapper.”

He blinked, still wearing his fond expression but it had some confusion maring it. “What’s a whipper snapper?”

“A human idiom.”

“But what’s it mean?”

“...I have no idea.”

The two of us laughed.

The guards ponies blasted the trumpets.

Celestia and Luna walked up to the pedestal.

“Citizens of Equestria, it is no longer with a heavy heart but with great joy that I raise the summer sun. For this celebration now represents not the defeat of Nightmare Moon, but the return of my sister, Princess Luna.”

Killjoy leaned to my side. “How sadistic are these ponies? Every year they made Celestia celebrate banishing her own sister to the moon.”

I applauded with the crowd, still leaning towards my sister. “They’re all cruel bastards. Not only that, but they did something the same on Nightmare Night.”

“You right, you right.” Killjoy nodded as the sun began to rise.

Twilight flew up, leaving behind a starburst shaped like her cutiemark. It extended beyond the skyline, following the sun as it rose to it’s peak.

The crowd behind us cheered.

The three Princesses met back on the pedestal. Twilight exchanged a smile with the sisters before smiling back at the crowd.

==CAH==

As was usual at the Summer Sun Celebration, there was a proper celebration.

Though where exactly it was placed was difficult to answer. At my first guess, it was in the gardens. Second guess was that it was in the main hall, where we’d had Cadance and Shining’s wedding. Third was that it was just...an understood thing that everpony did.

Turns out it was just the entire city. Like a mockup of Mardi Gras, the whole of Canterlot was partying. 

Granted there was a central location around where Celestia and Luna actually rose the sun/lowered the moon, but beyond that it was everypony for themselves.

Thorax and I were doing that annoying couple thing of exchanging food, mostly so Killjoy would take the girls back upstairs. It worked, but we didn’t stop feeding each other. The lie became too real...

We were saved from our own folly by Queen Thorne coming by.

“Thorne!” I cheered, rushing up to the changeling queen.

The Queen gave me a small side hug. “Hello Princess Morgan. Might I say, this was a wonderful spectacle.”

“Well thank you.” I bobbed my head at her. “I’ll tell Celestia and Luna that it was great.”

Thorne raised an eyebrow. “But not Princess Twilight?”

“Oh! Right. Her too.” I amended, giving a bashful grin. “Sorry- been a hectic day. Even I forget she’s a princess sometimes.”

“It’s an interesting development.” Thorne agreed. “She will stay in Ponyville, I heard? Rather than in Canterlot?”

“Ponyville is where her friends are.” I explained. “Why would she be anywhere else?”

“I suppose it’s just my old prejudices.” Thorne admitted. She brushed back a lock of her red mane. “Despite being in that shell, I am still from a time long ago. I am used to the royalty of Canterlot all being in one place. It...disquiets me to see them all so spaced apart.” Her expression went dower. “My mother and sister would see that as an advantage.”

My hoof went to her shoulder. “Hey. Those two come sniffing back, I’ll kick them to the moon myself.”

“They’re my family, I should-”

“With me and Thorax together, that makes us family.” I corrected her. “Chrysalis is my mother-in-law, by changeling law. You think I’m happy about that?”

It brought a laugh out of the Queen, so that’s a victory for me.

“I’ve always got Equestria’s back.” I assured her. “Anything that wants a piece of her has to go through me first.”

That comment made the Queen hum. “Your husband is right. You’re a workaholic.”

My cheeks went red. “Coltfriend, actually. We...haven’t made it official by my people’s standards yet.”

Thorne’s eyes widened. “You said it had been six years for you, eight for Thorax.”

“Yeah...”

“And you still haven’t made it official to your people?”

“...no.” I shook my head. “It’s complicated. A lot of laws, and stuff. And he doesn’t actually exist back Home so that’s a- aha, this is awkward. Hey where did my coltfriend go?”

Thorne had no chance to respond. I ran off toward the snack table.

Thorax was there, dipping strawberries in a chocolate fountain. “Babe. It’s  _ chocolate _ . And it’s a  _ fountain. _ ”

His cute statement made me smile. “Great...great...I love these things.” Picking up a strawberry, I dipped in into the fountain. “Hey have you heard from the Princesses about the changeling thing yet?”

“Thorne didn’t say anything?”

“Nope.”

“Then nothing’s happened.” Thorax reasoned with a shrug. “Hey when do you think we should get back? Discord sounded excited to play Cards Against Humanity with you.”

“You just don’t want to be dragged in.” I countered, flicking his nose with a second strawberry.

He snorted, pulling his nose away. He shook off the sensation. “Your sister is a psychopathic killer, but you are the mother of my children. I  _ hate  _ playing that game with you. You’ve got a messed up brain.”

“Hey Killjoy earned that black card. I told you,  _ Michelle Obama’s arms _ made more sense for a new fab diet than  _ AIDS. _ ”

Thorax scoffed. “Sadistic cruel human.”

I laughed at him. Thorax joined in a moment later.

Across the field, Twilight watched me with hesitation. I wouldn’t ever learn that she’d been arguing with herself about coming to talk to me, or Thorax, or us both. That something about what she saw with the Tree of Harmony had shaken her. Something she was certain I hadn’t seen.

Because I wouldn’t find out for a while, that the Seed had  _ seven _ keys.


	4. Plan For A Storm

Thorax held up a plate of chocolate chip pancakes.

I gave him a ‘ _ seriously’ _ eyebrow. 

“Our children  _ love  _ us.” Thorax stated. He hopped in bed.

The pancakes continued to float above me. “Did they make these? Cause if they did that’s not love, that’s poisoning.”

“Nah.” Thorax lifted one pancake to his mouth. “These are Eggo. Found them in the fridge- not your sisters I checked. These are  _ totally  _ from the kids.”

I grinned, picking up a pancake. “Our kids love us.”

We toasted our pancakes, lying back on the bed to enjoy a breakfast in relative peace.

“So. What’s up today?” Thorax asked.

“Huh.” I stretched out, snuggling up to his side. “Twilight gets a letter to check out the castle in the Everfree. Pretty much everypony joins in, mostly for their own purposes. You can guess how it goes.”

“Like...bad?”

“Hilariously.”

“So...can we even do anything about that?”

“I can  _ always  _ do something.”

“...why does it all go bad?”

“They think it’s haunted, but really it’s Pinkie Pie playing an organ that sets off all the traps.”

Thorax paused. “How does that make sense? Really? I can totally see that happening. Why?!”

I laughed.

“Ugh. I hate you.” Thorax complained, finishing off a pancake. “Think you have time to go shopping first?”

“Yeah. Why?” I asked. “Is it cause I know how many-”

“It’s cause you’re the one who knows how many bits we have.” Thorax agreed. “Numbers...they scare me.”

I giggled.

“Shut up. Shut up you know why they scare me.” Thorax accused. He tried to hit me in the face with his pancake.

“It- it-” I could barely speak, I was laughing to much already. “It was just the 7-8-9 joke!”

Thorax yelped, becoming so scared he flinched away then fell off the bed.

What an amazing start to the day.

==CAH==

I walked into the kitchen. Darcy was there, eating a bowl of cereal.

“Hey.” I greeted, moving the dishes to the sink. “Whatcha doin’ today?” 

Darcy shrugged. “Not much. I was thinking about getting my old job back.”

That made me pause. “...what job did you have again?” Images of Killjoy being an assassin flashed in my mind’s eye. 

“Bouncer.” Darcy answered. “At the Salt Lick.” She took another big bite of cereal, as I regained the decades of life that the stress of this conversation cost me. “You?”

“Gonna get Bee settled in town.” I explained. My magic started to work to clean the dishes. “The girls were going to play with the Crusaders today.”

“Ah the Crusaders. Those girls were insane.” Darcy snickered. “No wonder the dragon kid befriended them. Do you remember that?”

“I remember being terrified for a full ten seconds because you had me thinking they would use ‘fire breathing’ for a new Cutie Mark scheme.” I recalled. Darcy snickered again. A cup went out, smacking the back of her head. “Hey it’s just training for your old job.”

Darcy scoffed. She moved the bowl into the sink. I stared down at the offending item. “Hey, Morgue, it’s just training for when- _ owowow _ -”

My magic gripped her hair, pulling it.

“Bitch!” Darcy smacked my arm.

“Whore!” I snapped back, punching her arm back.

That’s what Thorax walked into when he came downstairs.

Just normal stuff between sisters, ya know?

==CAH==

When I arrived at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, I lowered the pair of sunglasses I wore. Then I pulled up a map, looking it over while also glancing to the castle.

Thorax ran up behind me. He was panting, tripping over his own hooves to reach me. 

“You good babe?” I prompted.

“Yes dear!” Thorax put himself to rights. He sat down beside me, running a hoof over the top of his head to seem chill. “Totally awesome...why?”

“Cause you’re a stumbling mess of a changeling.” I replied. Thorax gawked. “Still love you though.” Reaching up I kissed his cheek. “Groceries made it home okay?”

“Yep!”

“You put away the frozens?”

“We had frozens- I mean of course I did! I learned my lesson.” Thorax boasted.

I gave him a look.

Thorax steadily lost his boasting posture. “...okay don’t get mad-”

“You lost them in the Everfree, didn’t you?” I prompted flatly.

“... _ yes!” _

At my sigh, Thorax began rambling. “I tripped over a root which wasn’t a big deal because I was using magic to hold them up but while I was getting upright there was a Star Spider and it tried to bite me so I dropped  _ everything!” _ He revealed.

“It’s fine.” I shrugged. 

Thorax stopped in his panicked breathing. “What.”

“You do realize I know how many bits we actually have right?” I asked. Thorax nodded. “I accounted for accidents like that. Well I expected a sudden sneeze from Lilac or Cookie using them for scratching posts.” I kissed Thorax on the cheek. “You’re still okay.”

Thorax kissed me on the nose. “Thank you.” He stepped closer to the castle. “Now. What’re we doing here? And before you give a sarcastic answer, I mean what are we doing while they’re doing they’re stuff?”

Pouting, I began. “Rarity and Fluttershy will be looking for the tapestries, didn’t see much I could do on that end. Applejack and Dash are seeing who’s the most daring, and Twilight-”

“Let me guess!” Thorax raised up his hoof, waving it in excitement. “She reads a book the whole time and get super annoyed when everypony keeps interrupting her!”

“Well yes to the book reading, no to the annoyance.” I answered. “Ready to get started?”

“We need to finish before the stalls close.” Thorax remarked. “...what are we doing?”

“...to be honest, honey, I don’t know if there _ is _ anything that can be done. Really there’s no publicly humiliating event, no villain to stop or outshow...just hijinks.”

“Then what are we doing here?”

“I wanted to see the Harmony Tree.” I admitted, smiling shamelessly.

==CAH==

The Tree of Harmony was  _ glorious. _

Thorax and I sat in the cave, staring at the Tree to just let it all soak in. I watched the shimmering lights from the Element of Magic. My reflection could be seen in the base of the Tree. If you looked behind the Seed of Harmony, that is.

“It’s amazing.” Thorax remarked, after twenty minutes of silence.

“Yeah...really beautiful.” I uncurled from his side to lie down on the floor. “Hey honey?”

“Yeah babe?”

“Wanna play where we’re going next?” I asked.

Thorax chuckled. “We’re barely a month into this trip!” He laughed.

“Yeah...but the months will go by so fast. We can at least pick where we’ll go.”

Thorax tilted his head. He scratched the side of his head with his hoof. “Can we think about it tomorrow?” He lied down on the ground.

“Sure.” I shrugged. “There’s plenty of time to Plan with the storm coming up.”

“The what?!” Thorax sat up.

At that moment, it started to pour outside. Thorax groaned as he fell back onto the dirt. I laughed, rolling on my back.

==CAH==

Hours later when the storm ended, Thorax and I flew back to Ponyville.

The replacement groceries floated behind Thorax, held together in his magic. I was counting the bits we had left, doing the quick math in my head.

“So how are we looking?” Thorax asked.

“Great. There are still a lot left.” I remarked. Tucking the bit purse away in my Bag, I walked closer to Thorax. “Still, it’s not gonna hurt to buy a few more things. We need more mugs.”

“We do?” Thorax asked.

“Killjoy.” I supplied.

“We do.” Thorax nodded solemnly. “And for the other thing?”

“I can go shopping for index cards tomorrow- Twilight gets the  _ best _ discounts.” I admitted with a smile. “Can’t believe you agreed with me though-”

“Well I trust you.”

“You trust me not to kiss-”

“I trust you not to sleep with him.” Thorax corrected before I could finish. “I won’t blame you for making out with him. You showed me the pictures, he’s beautiful.”

I cooed, bopping him on the nose. He grinned flirtatiously back.

As we walked towards the small store in town that sold dishware, there came a small voice in an alleyway.

“Spare some c-change p-please…?”

Thorax paused with me in our steps. Turning towards the voice, I saw a small pegasus foal walking out from the alley. She had a blue coat, dark red eyes, a dark red mane with purple tips, and one of her wings was encased in a bandage.

“Sure.” Thorax reached for the bit purse. I stopped him. “Uh...babe?”

I walked towards to the child, leaning down to her level. “Sup.”

The foal- looking not much older than the Crusaders- glared up at me.

“You look cool.” I commented. “Far from home too, I bet. What brings you to Ponyville?”

The pegasus turned away from in a huff. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? Oh Nothing is a good friend of mine. Why didn’t he tell me you were in town?” I clicked my tongue, tapping my hoof on the floor. “What a mess.” 

The pegasus glanced at me, quickly looking away when she realized she’d done it.

Thorax talked my shoulder. “Starry-”

“Hush Bee.” I scolded in a low whisper. “You know what? I’m logging a complaint with Nothing. He’s gone too far-”

“Nopony brought me here!  _ I  _ brought me here!” The pegasus grumbled, stomping a hoof.

“So your parents didn’t bring you?” Was my reply. The pegasus tensed, glaring down at the dirt. “Or...did you not-”

“Starry no.” Thorax must’ve realized what I was doing.

“Come on Bee! Look at her! She probably hasn’t eaten a proper meal in days!”

“Weeks.” The foal answered.

“Weeks?!” I nearly shouted. “She hasn’t eaten in weeks Bee!”

Thorax moves me away from the foal’s hearing range. “I heard her, but we can’t. We’ve already taken two in. And your sister.” Thorax argued.

“So? What’s one more?” Morgan asked.

“It’s one more room that we don’t have.” Thorax explained.

“We can construct one. Or we could get another house.” I explained. “Oh! Or we could ask Celestia or Luna if they would let us use their old castle. Twilight and Rarity would jump at the opportunity.”

“Are you listening to yourself?!” Thorax questioned, gripping me by my shoulders. “Why am I the logical one right now?”

“I have Loki on the brain.” I excused. “Everything is excused.”

“You’re talking about adopting a third girl. Third, Starry. We already have two! Plus your sister who’s crashing at our place! And me- you have  _ definitely  _ adopted me into your weird family.”

Shrugging off his hooves, I moved my hoof to put in me in ‘super hero pony pose’. “Every child deserves a home, Bee.”

Thorax paused for a moment, trying to come up with an argument. “How can we afford it?”

“I’m a Princess and you’re an ambassador. I’m sure we could find the necessary funds.” I argued easily.

Thorax pointed directly at the blue pegasus. “What if she just ran away from home? Her parents might want her back.”

“She doesn’t look old enough to cross the street by herself, and she’s been missing for weeks. I think her parents would’ve found her by now if they wanted to.” I pointed out.

“What will Lilac and Cookie think?” Thorax asked, his resolve about to break.

“Another sister. Yay.” I glared. “We’re taking her.”

“We don’t even know her name!” Thorax used in a latch ditch effort.

I trotted back to the foal. She had been staring at Thorax and me in confusion during our whole argument. “What’s your name kid?”

The pegasus blinked her red eyes. Her jaw couldn’t decide whether to stay closed or to drop to the ground. “D-Dynam-mite Berry, Princess.”

“Dynamite Berry, nice name.” With that handled I turned back to my husband. “We’re taking her in.” 

“Wait...what?!” The pegasus girl finally understanding the married couple’s argument.

Thorax made a small whimper. “Ugh I hate being the Adult.”

“Come on Bee, you know you want to. Just look at that wittle face.” I argued, waving my hoof at the shocked foal.

The changeling sighed, looking between the maybe-orphan. Finally, his shoulder sagged and a smile formed on his face. “Okay. We can take her home.”

Dynamite and I cheered. I picked the foal up, putting her down on my back. Her song was hurt after all. Before Thorax could stop us, I ran off in the direction of the dishware store.

If I stick around him, I would’ve heard him say “You’re going to keep doing this to me, aren’t you?” 

_ Oh yeah, I totally would. _


	5. Dynamite Don't

“...you did  _ what. _ ”

“Adopted daughter #3!” I supplied. My arm shot out, pointing towards Dynamite Berry. The blue and red pegasus was looking at a box that Killjoy had brought her.

Pinkie cheered. “ _ ADOPTION PARTY!” _ Confetti fell from...I actually don’t know where.

Twilight walked up to us, as Pinkie zoomed around the rest of the setup for the party. “Explain.” She stated.

I smiled wide. “Explain what?”

“Explain how we left you alone- _ for one day- _ and you adopted another child!” Twilight asked.

“Oh. Explain  _ that. _ ” My smile brightened- if it was at all possible.

“...yeah how the hell did we manage that again?” Thorax asked. He put a wing over my side. “It all happened so fast that even _ I’m _ confused by it.”

“Oh apparently her parents died when she was a foal.” I went off into the explanation that they’d given me in a letter, replying after just an hour. “She’s been from foster home to foster home since. She ran away a few weeks ago from a home in Cloudsdale. When I asked Equestria’s equivalent of Social Services for her papers to adopt, they were  _ excited  _ that Dynamite had found a good home.” I beamed. “I don’t think paperwork has ever gone through so fast.”

“They let you keep the foal you’d picked up off the street.” Twilight deadpanned. “Just...with no investigations or anything?”

“That’s assuming all I sent them was a simple letter. No I told them I adopted two children prior to Dynamite, then included my own personal work file here in Equestria, followed by Thorax’s.”

“I have a file?” Thorax asked, confused. I gave him a look. “Right. Of course I have a file.”

“And Killjoy?” Twilight asked.

“She’s literally never been happier. Apparently Dynamite likes explosions.” I supplied.

“No I mean, did you send her file? Since she lives with you?”

“That’s a nice phrase. ’Lives with us’. It corrects the fact that she’s my prisoner.” I sighed, resting my head on Thorax’s suddenly tense shoulder.

All three of us glanced towards Dynamite and Killjoy who were both- again- looking inside a box that Killjoy had brought.

“No blowing up a building!” I cautioned.

Killjoy huffed. “Well then what am I  _ supposed _ to do with the kid?!”

Dynamite watched this exchange with curious delight. Lilac was trying to look grateful that we weren’t related. Cookie was chasing a toy rat.

“Try asking her.”

“And if she wants to blow up a building?”

“Tell her no like a rational adult.”

“You’ve blown up buildings!” Killjoy shouted in defense of the use of using explosives to blow up buildings with a foal that’s barely twelve.

“To stop bad guys! What, you know a building filled with bad guys around here?” I questioned, sarcastically.

Killjoy huffed. She turned to her newest niece. “It might be my name here, but your mom is the biggest killjoy I’ve ever met in my life.”

Dynamite smiled. She grinned my way though, which told me whatever she was gonna say next was nothing good. Thorax must’ve seen it too because his wing held me tighter. “We could always blow stuff up in Everfree.”

Killjoy grinned,

Funny enough it was Twilight that sighed first. “Great. Just great. You find a random foal and she’s just as insane as your sister.”

“Probably _ why _ I noticed her, to be honest.” I remarked. “Always on the alert for when Killjoy does... _ something _ . Which reminds me. Killjoy!”

“ _ What?!” _

“The first time you were so involved with a blown up building, you killed your parents. Maybe tone it down?” I suggested. “I’d rather not test it to see if Dynamite picks up that bit.”

Killjoy groaned, flopping to the floor in a dead drop. “They’re just fireworks!  _ I hate you. _ ”

Pinkie popped up behind Killjoy’s head. “FIREWORKS?! OH I NEED THAT!” She plucked the box, vanishing before Killjoy or Dynamite had even finished screaming.

I smiled at Twilight. “She fits right in.”

Thorax hummed, resting his head on mine. “It’s almost scary...no I changed my mind, it’s terrifying.”

Twilight looked like she was pretending we weren’t friends.

==CAH==

It was the next day that the party happened. Pinkie had sent out invites of all the ponies we wanted invited- not much beyond the Mane 6, Spike, and the family. We’d invited Dynamite’s social worker but she declined attending. 

Lilac had been showing Dynamite around Ponyville while we prepared the surprise. The young foal was close in age to Lilac, but age doesn’t equal friendship. Lilac hadn’t much liked Dynamite, being the oldest child and first ‘born’ into the family. She was warming up faster than she had with Cookie, though, so it’s not a complete fight. Cookie was always excited about everything, so this wasn’t new.

Dynamite...I’m unsure about.

On one hoof, she enjoyed her new home. She enjoyed being in a family. Sure we were clearly insane but we were a mixed bunch, insanity was a given.

On the other...I don’t think it’s hit her yet that we’re in this until the end. It may have been a spur of the moment thing but I tended to stick with my decisions. Especially if another creature was added to the family. I mean seriously, everyone I had now I decided to keep after two minutes.

Which, you know, isn’t exactly a thing you can say to a foster child turned adoptee. Because they won’t listen if they don’t want to. She’ll ignore me if I just say things, they’ll come across as useless platitudes. Ponies like her needed actions, not words.

_ Darcy had been like that, way back when. _

_ How sweet... _

But this was a party.

I’ve been informed you’re supposed to have fun at parties.

Thorax brought me a cup of punch. I accepted it into my magic, letting it hover in the air for a moment before taking a sip. “Twenty for your thoughts?”

I gave him a look, telling him I knew how cheesy that phrase was but I appreciated it. “You better pay up for this.” Thorax grinned in victory. “What would it take to proof to Dynamite that we’re keeping her? Even if she actually blows something up?”

“Easy. Let her come along today.” Thorax replied. I gawked at him. “No, really. Let her join. It’s an adventure, there’s bound to be a need for explosives at one point. She’ll be perfect.”

“She could get hurt.” I defended.

“So could you.” Thorax countered. “Come on...can she really be a part of this family until she’s gone a quest that could end in hospital time?” He pointed out.

“...damn it I hate you.”

He kissed my forehead, right below my horn. He sighed. “I know. Just too much brains to be a trophy husband.”

“Seriously. Would it kill you to go stupid for a day?” I snickered.

“Probably.” Thorax shrugged.

That was when Rainbow Dash flew inside. Everypony turned to her, especially Pinkie Pie.

“Heya, Twilight! Aren't you excited that-” Pinkie waved a bunch of sparklers in Rainbow’s face. Rainbow flinched from them, before they could reach her mane.

“So glad you've finally made it!” Twilight cheered.

“I was starting to think you’d lost the invite.” Killjoy commented, eating another cupcake. Cookie had tried to grab for two, so Killjoy stole another. “Oh wait. That meant we’d have to invite you in the first place.”

“Ignore her. You were definitely sent an invite.” Thorax countered.

“What's everypony doing here?” Rainbow asked, looking around the fixed up library.

“We're having a party!” Pinkie cheered, performing a stunt while waving the sparklers around.

“I can see that. What kind of party?” Rainbow asked.

“Dynamite Berry’s Combination Welcome-To-Ponyville-And-Congratulations-On-Being-Adopted-Party!” Pinkie explained.

Rainbow blinked. “Uh.”

“She’s Morgan’s newest adoptee.” Rarity explained, walking up to Rainbow’s side. Rainbow looked over, seeing Dynamite standing next to Lilac. Lilac was showing Dynamite which cupcakes had hot sauce on them- apparently a request from the pegasus.

“She adopted another kid?” Rainbow asked. “How come nopony bothered to invite  _ me _ ?”

“I came to give you your invite personally, but it seems you were a speck too busy reading the last  _ Daring Do _ book for the  _ twelfth time _ .” Applejack deadpanned.

“Yeah, well, in three months and twenty six more days, I'll be able to read the next one.” Rainbow excused.

“Wrong.” I remarked, sipping the punch.

“What?” Rainbow asked, snapping her head to me. Pinkie handed her a cup of punch. “What do you mean ‘wrong’? I can totally read the next one-”

“Oh I don’t doubt that. However what’s wrong is the date. It’s been pushed back another two months.” I revealed, just as Rainbow took a sip of the punch.

Rainbow spat it out. I was able to put up a shield spell before it hit me in the face. “ _ Two more months _ ?!” She yelped. “I've been waiting so long already! I don't think I can take another two months! I'll never make it!”

“Yeah. I can vouch for that...” Fluttershy remarked, poking up from behind the center table.

“Did they give a reason?” Rainbow asked. I just gave her a cruel  _ ‘no spoilers for you’ _ smile. Some people called it my  _ ‘are you asking me for something because I will give it to you along with a kick in the feels’ _ smile. “Twilight did they give a reason? I  _ know _ Morgan would have heard it from you!”

“The publisher just said author A.K. Yearling won't be able to finish the book for another two months.” Twilight explained. “Cupcakes? This one doesn’t have any hot sauce.”

“How could you  _ possibly  _ know that before me? I'm the series' biggest fan!” Rainbow yelled. “And Morgan would  _ never  _ tell you something without being cryptic!” 

“I'm just as big a fan as you! In fact, I'm the one who first introduced you to the books,  _ remember _ ?”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Oh. Right.”

Dynamite snickered. Killjoy gave her a hoof bump.

“A.K. Yearling just might be my favorite author. I know everything about her.” Twilight recalled, fondly. “Where she grew up, where she studied literature, where she wrote the first  _ Daring Do _ book-”

“Where she lives?” Rainbow guessed.

“Uh... no, though I could probably find out somehow. Why?” Twilight asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Killjoy asked. “Come on- even Thorax knows why she’s asking and he’s stupid.”

“Hey.” Thorax whined. “Wife, she’s not being nice.”

“Dad. Auntie she’s never nice.” Lilac pointed out before I got the chance.

Killjoy grinned, arrogantly. Dynamite snorted.

“Don't you get it? The new book is  _ obviously _ delayed because she needs help dealing with whatever everyday nonsense is distracting her from spending her every living breathing second writing!” Rainbow explained in a panicked rush. “So I– I mean, fans like me, can get to read the new book ASAP! Think about it! We could help her with her laundry, buy her groceries, cooking her meals, whatever! Now, who wouldn't appreciate that?”

“Hmm, I don't know... What she probably wants most of all is respect for her privacy.” Twilight pointed out.

“She can always just say no.” Rainbow countered.

“Mmh... I suppose you’re right.” Twilight reasoned. She turned to me. “Well? What do you think?”

“I think this is a ridiculous idea that could very well get many of us hurt or maimed or something in the middle.” I stated. My grin widened. “It’s a vote ‘yes’ for me!”

“So...how’s about getting that address?” Rainbow requested.

“I wanna!” Cookie yelled, throwing her arms up. She knocked down the hot sauce.

“Nope.” Using my magic, I lifted Cookie up away from the table. “Alright. Who’s staying behind-”

“Me.” Thorax took Cookie in his magic, dropping her on his back. “You and the kiddies have fun.” 

I smiled at him.

==CAH==

“She’s been painting the ground for a long time.” Dynamite questioned, looking over her shoulder at Pinkie.

“She does that.” Killjoy replied.

“And...her friends are letting her?” Dynamite asked, only more confused.

“One does not simply stop Pinkie Pie.” I explained. “For that way, madness lies.”

“...Rainbow Dash was right. You  _ are  _ cryptic.”

I beamed at her. “Now you get it.”

Dynamite stared at me for a moment. “No. No I don’t.”

“Which means you’re in denial.” Killjoy sighed. She shook her head. “Don’t worry. You’ll crack soon.”

Dynamite’s eyes were wide, occasionally blinking. 

Lilac sighed on my back. “Trust me. It’s less exhausting to just give into the crazy.”

“When did you?”

“Somewhere around age eight.” Lilac admitted.

“And look at you now. Fourteen and dead inside.” Killjoy boasted. “Which is exactly the way I would be if _ we weren’t walking so much!” _ She glared over at Rainbow Dash.

“See?! Killjoy understands- oh Celestia I just said that-” Twilight bemoaned, shaking her head.

Killjoy shivered in disgust. “I don’t like this. Sis I don’t like it when Twilight agrees with me!”

“The point is- why would she live in this remote part of Equestria except to keep folks from intruding on her privacy?” Twilight pointed out to the others, ignoring Killjoy now. “We should respec-”

“I think I spotted the house!” Dash announced. “We're super close! This way!”

“I call smashing a window!” Killjoy yelled.

The two of them sped ahead. The rest of us had to run to keep up.

We did arrive at Yearling’s home all the same. The house was practically trashed. Yet it was still standing, so good job!

“Wait! Oh no. What happened?” Twilight asked me.

“Why do they keep asking you this stuff?” Dynamite asked.

“Because they understand I’m smarter than them.” I replied.

No. We hadn’t decided to tell her that I was a Reality Traveling human. Baby steps.

“Apparently somepony has intruded on her privacy pretty hard already.” Dash remarked.

She knocked on the door. The door crashed down on the floor. I winced at the impact.

We all walked inside. The inside of her house was trashed.

“Hoo-wee, somepony really trashed this place.” Applejack commented.

“Hmm... Maybe...  _ or _ maybe A.K. Yearling's just a terrible, horrible, unbelievable slob!” Pinkie suggested. She bounced around in the garbage, fashioning a saucepan on her head and a rug as a cape. 

“Or she was kidnapped and murdered!” Killjoy guessed.

I face-hoofed.

Rarity gasped. “I hope A.K. Yearling's alright!”

“Is she really dead?” Lilac whispered to me.

I opened my mouth to talk when Twilight rushed to my side. She shook my shoulders. “Did something terrible happen to A.K. Yearling?!”

So now I stared flatly at Twilight.

The alicorn figured out what the glare was about. She cleared her throat, pulling away from me. She laughed awkwardly.

Dynamite walked to my side. “Okay but really? They asked you again.”

“I told you-”

“Yeah but how would you know about somepony’s house being trashed?” Dynamite asked.

I looked over to the others, glaring at them in annoyance.

They all had the sudden desire to stare at literally anything else.

“I’m the Princess of the Criminal Underworld-”

“Nu-uh! We said that was mine!” Killjoy complained. “We agreed!”

“Fine.” With a huff, I turned back to Dynamite. “I’m the Princess of Taking Down the Criminal Underworld. They assume I can stop everypony.”

Dynamite glanced at Killjoy before going back to me. “Can you?”

“Often.” I replied with a grin. 

“We have bigger issues than that, Morgan!” Rainbow Dash ranted. “Tell us! Did something happen to AK Yearling?! There might be no more books!”

Everypony was giving Rainbow Dash a deadpan stare.

The pegasus laughed, awkwardly. “Uh... But, of course, I'd be worried about  _ her _ , too. Heh.”

Dynamite looked at me. “Okay. But why did she call you Morgan?”

Now I was glaring daggers at Rainbow Dash, who turned away from me.

“What are you all doing here?”

I was completely grateful for the interruption. Turning to the door, AK Yearling stood. Anypony who had seen her book covers would know that this pony had done a poor job disguising the fact that she was Daring Do. The same khaki tan coat, same black mane, same eyes. Her heavy maroon coat, giant hat, and red rimmed glasses didn’t hide anything.

Well except her wings. It hid those pretty well.

“Uh...A...K-K...Yearling…” Rainbow Dash stuttered. She gawked at her favorite author in awe.

“We didn't do this! We swear!” Twilight yelled.

“Neither did I!” Killjoy threw in. “If I did you would be-” Her mouth was covered in yellow magic. She glared at my glowing horn. Dynamite snickered.

“What have you done to my house?” AK Yearling demanded.

“We didn't do this, Ms. Yearling- whoa!” Applejack was cut off, by AK Yearling panickedly yanking the rug from under her hooves.

Yearling rushed about her destroyed home, searching for the object. Rolling my eyes I grabbed the book from under the starstruck Rainbow Dash’s hooves. Killjoy’s mouth was still muzzled.

“We’re awfully glad to see you're alright.” Twilight told Yearling, who wasn’t having it.

Yearling rushed over to her desk. Lilac leaned on my head, watching her rush about the home. “She’s not being friendly.”

“I noticed.” Was my reply.

Rainbow Dash grinned at the author, who wasn’t even sparing her a glance. “Okay, clearly this isn’t the best time, but I’ve just gotta say how much we all  _ really  _ love your books...” She nervously laughed.

Yearling let out a panicked noise. The book floated over to her, still held in my grasp. She yanked it just as I canceled the magic.

“You’re lucky.” I pointed out to her. She began unlocking the book, dialing the code along the book rings and turning the lock. “Most ponies don’t know the treasure that a book can hide.”

Killjoy groaned. The magic on her mouth fell off. “Sis.”

“I know.”

“Even for you that was bad.”

“I know but it had to be _ said _ .”

Yearling pulled out a giant golden ring. She relaxed at the sight. “It’s safe.” Yearling began tidying up. 

Rainbow Dash stood up, pushing a typewriter in Yearling’s way. “Great! Maybe now would be a good time for me to ask her how we can help move the new book along a little faster. Chop chop!”

Yearling glared.

“Rainbow Dash, a minute please!” Twilight dragged Rainbow Dash out with her magic. As she went out, the rest of the Mane Six followed. Killjoy, Lilac, Dynamite, and myself stayed inside.

Yearling was still cleaning up, doing a rather okay job of it. “Did you know what was inside it?”

“Would it make you more, or less suspicious if I said _ ’no’ _ ?” I asked. Yearling glanced my way. “So that’s a _ ’more suspicious’ _ . Gotcha.”

“She says she’s the Princess of _ ’Taking Down Underground Crime’ _ -” Dynamite began.

“Criminal Underworld.” Lilac corrected. “Underground Crime sounds like she fights Diamond Dogs all day.”

“I mean I kinda do, when I get you something to eat-”

“-she says that’s what she is. Maybe she can help find whoever did this!” Dynamite told AK Yearling, aka Daring Do, the pony who knew exactly who did this. “Or Aunt Killjoy. She says she’s Princess  _ of _ the Criminal Underworld.”

Killjoy grinned at Yearling. “She doubts me.”

At that exact moment, Killjoy flung out her wing. A knife was flung out. It struck right beside the head of a pony sneaking down the stairs. He yelped, bumping back into his two associates.

Yearling quickly shed off her disguise, revealing herself to the not-so-secret watchers in the window that she was Daring Do. She leapt towards the stairs.

I stretched out my wings, hiding my two foals behind me. My horn lit up, lifting up various books to use as weapons. It’s why they exist, after all. 

The henchponies rushed down the stairs, tumbling down to avoid another thrown knife. Daring Do kicked one in the face. Another was met by Killjoy, who had grabbed her two thrown knives. The third was just getting repeatedly whacked all over by books.

He was quickly knocked to the ground. His sunglasses falling off, chipped. I kept pelting him with the books. As I did so I caught sight of his cutiemark. A quick glance at the other two shined a light on a pretty dark joke from the writers of MLP.

“Killjoy?” I called out.

Killjoy whacked the henchpony with the pommel of her knife. He bonked his head on the wall, flopping to the ground. “Yeah?”

“Look at their cutiemarks.” I informed her. Killjoy did so, then laughed.

You see, each of the cutiemarks for the goons were the comic book action bubbles. Where you would see things like:  _?!, kick, punch, ow, attack _ , etc. How crummy life must be, for you to get your cutiemark only to find out you’ll be the Equestrian version of a henchpony.

But it was also  _ really funny. _

“Dude that’s cruelty.”

“I know!”

Daring Do was still fighting the third henchpony. “I don’t need your help!” She called out to us. Incredible she was able to do that with the golden ring in her mouth.

“Duh.” Killjoy snorted. She kicked the second henchpony in the gut. He huffed out a pained groan. “This is how I spend my Tuesday nights.”

“You spend your Tuesday nights beating up- oh wait I forgot you got your old job back.” 

“Yeah! That place is great.” Killjoy grinned, actually fond of something not related to murder for once.

I whacked the first henchpony in the face with a book again. He had tried to stand back up. 

The henchpony actually gained an advantage, pulling the ring out of Daring Do’s mouth. Only problem was that it landed in the fireplace. Wait...had that been lit this whole time? I should’ve checked. Then again, Lilac might’ve sneezed during the fight and lit it unintentionally. So that’s probably it.

Speaking of the dragon, she rushed towards the flames. She pulled out the golden ring- which was barely affected by the fire. “Got it!” She cheered to myself and her aunt.

The henchpony growled, rushing after her.

Killjoy and myself both attacked at him. Killjoy, jumping on his back to hold a knife on his throat. Myself, by grabbing his hooves with my magic. 

“Wow!” Dynamite gawked. “You guys are awesome!”

Daring Do used a whip to grab the ring from Lilac. She tossed it over to a pitcher of juice, which toppled over onto the ring. It cooled it down. 

“KJ-”

“On it!” Killjoy turned herself onto the henchpony’s side. With a flash of my magic the henchpony was pushed into the wall. Killjoy kicked herself off at the last second. The third henchpony hit the wall so hard paint chipped off.

Daring Do went for the ring again. The second henchpony stood up. Lilac yelped, but stood her ground. I used my magic to put her beside Dynamite. The second henchpony rushed at the ring.

Both of them only succeeded to knock the ring off the table to the door. They began fighting with each other, throwing so many punches and kicks that dust stirred up around them.

The middle man of this whole mad scheme, Dr Caballeron, stood in the entryway. “Many thanks, Daring Do. As you’ve probably surmised, our earlier search for this treasure was... unsuccessful. So kind of you to find it for us.”

Daring Do had stopped fighting the henchpony. He had her pinned to the ground. He had gotten in a pretty good hit. “Give it back, Caballeron!” Daring demanded.

“That’s  _ Doctor _ Caballeron to you.” He corrected her, offended. He glanced over at my sister and myself, then at his crushed henchponies. “Ah. And who might you two be? Associates of the famed Daring Do?”

“Killjoy.” My sister grinned. She lifted up one of her knives, twisting it about in her feathers. “I can throw this knife between your eyes before you can even blink.”

“She’s scary at darts.” I commented. Dr Caballeron turned to me. “Princess Raspberry Stardust. I’m the only pony brave enough to play darts with that abomination.”

Killjoy kept up her grin. “We’re not her associates.”

“She couldn’t afford us.” I finished.

“So let me guess. Ahuizotl has put you up to this?” Daring Do asked Dr Caballeron. “You’re stealing the ring to give to him so his hold on the Fortress of Talacon will be good for eight centuries as foretold by prophecy!”

“Close, but... no. I’m going to  _ sell _ this to him, make a bundle, and retire from archaeology in splendor.” Dr Caballeron tossed the ring up, casting it over his neck like a neckalce.

Daring Do tried to stand up, only to fall. “Caballeron, you fool! You’re dooming the valley to eight centuries of unrelenting heat!”

“To market, henchponies!” Dr Caballeron called out. The third quickly followed. The other two were...less quick. “Well get up! We don’t have time for this! You’re ruining our dramatic exit!”

The henchponies got up on their feet, stumbling towards the door. Killjoy held up her two knives in her wings. I just smiled wide, lifting up the books. The henchponies ran out much faster after that.

“Why didn’t you stop him?!” Daring Do scolded us.

“You said you do things alone.” Killjoy snarked. “Even your own bad version of a splint. That’ll last you barely an hour before falling off. Your hoof will be broken because you no doubt plan to go after them.”

“Killjoy. You’re being...helpful.”

“Mom something is wrong with Auntie.” Lilac remarked, coming up to my side.

“Sis if I am eventually going to meet her on the field of combat, I need her to be in fighting condition.” Killjoy informed me, as if I were stupid for not seeing the point.

“Oh! So you’re Strax the Sontaran Nurse now. Great.” I remarked.

The rest of the Mane 6 ran inside.

“Dr Caballeron walked in right past you six and none of you did anything?” I scolded them. They all winced.

Well except Rainbow Dash. She went right up to her hero’s side. “Are you okay?”

Daring Do knocked Rainbow Dash’s hoof away. “I got this.”

Rainbow Dash’s face fell.

Fluttershy came up next. “Um, she was just trying to help, Ms Do.”

“Daring Do doesn’t need help.” Daring Do spoke about herself in the third person. As a normal pony does. Like Trixie! “She handles her business herself.” She put on her pith helmet, then flew away.

Killjoy scoffed. “That splint, Sis, it’ll get her in trouble.”

“You’re just saying that cause you wanted to cut it off.”

“It wouldn’t be broken anymore!”

Dynamite jumped on my back, excited. “THAT WAS AWESOME!” She yelled. “You were all like-  _ bam bam! _ And she was all _ whoosh-whoosh-sling _ ! And then Daring Do did that kick and flip and jumped and  _ SO AWESOME! _ ”

“We’ve gotta go help!” Rainbow Dash cried out.

“You heard her! She says she works alone!” Twilight argued.

“Those two are gonna go fight with her!” Rainbow Dash pointed at Killjoy and I. We shrugged. She wasn’t wrong. “How can we just stand by and do nothing? You know what’s at stake here! Ahuizotl has sought control of the Tenochtitlan Basin since book three!”

“True, but in book four, she defeated Ahuizotl and secured control of the Amulet of Atonement, dispelling the dark magic of the Ketztwctl Empress, and thus protecting the basin with the Radiant Shield of Razdon!”

“But the Radiant Shield of Razdon is vulnerable to the dark enchantment of the Rings of Scorchero!”

“But are you forgetting that the Rings were scattered to the four corners of Tenochtitlan, thus rendering the dark enchantment powerless?”

“Only if you assume that the Rings have yet to be retrieved, and the ring Caballeron just stole isn’t the last to completely restore the dark tower and its cruel hold on Tenochtitlan! Did you ever think of that?!”

“It’s like they’re speaking English.” Killjoy commented in my ear. “But I swear, they sound exactly like you when you’re in your ‘Planning’ phase.”

Shame was, I couldn’t even deny it.

“You gotta admit, Rainbow Dash makes a pretty good point.” Pinkie agreed.

“We gotta help Daring Do retrieve the ring for safekeeping before it’s too late!” Rainbow Dash told Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle [sighs] “Okay, but sounds to me like we’re in  _ way _ , way, way over our heads. We’re going to need a carefully thought out plan.” Twilight turned to me. “Raspberry do you-”

“I’m coming, Daring Do!” Rainbow Dash shouted, flying off after the adventurer.

“ _ That’s not a plan!” _ Twilight yelled. She sighed. “Raspberry please tell me you have a plan.”

“Are you asking, or begging?”

“Which ever one gets me the plan.”

“Begging! Then I accept.” I turned to Dynamite, who was still staring at me with wide red eyes of awe. “See, I’m also the Princess of Planning, but that doesn’t sound as cool. So, Twilight, others, here’s how it’s going to go-”

==CAH==

We had set up camp for the night. The forest was huge. Making sense as to why Rainbow Dash and Daring Do used their speed to go so far ahead. I had told the ponies all I could, seeing as Dynamite was there so I couldn’t give major spoilers.

But as I could tell when she sat down next to me around the campfire, that wasn’t going to be a problem for much longer.

Killjoy had gone off to find a creak for fish. She and Lilac had a taste for Equestrian fish. Applejack and Rarity were working on setting up the rest of the tents. Pinkie and Fluttershy were helping, by actually setting up the tents instead of arguing. Twilight was going over what I told her earlier.

“Why did Rainbow Dash call you Morgan?” Dynamite asked.

I put a stick in her hoof, along with a marshmallow. Pinkie had brought everything for s’mores and no I am not joking about that. Pinkie never jokes about s’mores...unless it’s a funny joke.

Dynamite held her marshmallow towards the fire. My own joined beside.

“See...that’s a big secret, Dynamite.” I began. Dynamite listened intently, her eyes still on her marshmallow. “A big secret in this family. The only ponies in all of Equestria that know it are in this camp, or the other Princesses.”

“So for real- nopony knows?”

I shook my head. “There’s a reason we keep it so secret. Because the last time anypony found out...well...you heard about the Changeling Hive, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. The Changelings are all apparently nice now. A lot of ponies don’t really believe it, even if they have a new queen and all. Mister Thorax is nice, even if he’s a complete dork. But I heard he was there when-” Dynamite’s eyes widened. “Wait you were _ there _ ?”

I nodded. “It was because of my secret that the Changeling Hive isn’t a total wasteland right now.” Pulling my marshmallow out of the fire, I checked it to be sure I hadn’t burnt it. “We haven’t told you yet, not because we don’t trust you, but because we don’t want to overwhelm you.”

Dynamite shook her head. “I won’t be!” She pulled out her own marshmallow from the flames. 

“No...I don’t think you will.” Was my reply. “So here it goes.”

The reality bracelet flared on my wrist. Dynamite’s jaw dropped as I was shifted into my human body. I picked up the marshmallow, popping it in my mouth.

“I’m from another reality.” I explained, chewing the marshmallow. After I swallowed it I grabbed another marshmallow. “Full of creatures that look exactly like this. Killjoy is one too. I’m still a princess, of that world. Lilac is still a dragon from here, same as Thorax. Cookie was actually a cat in another reality, but became a griffon when she came here. I’m called a  _ human _ .”

Dynamite continued to stare. 

“I can travel between realities. Like really easily. It’s my superpower. Back in my home reality, all of this is just a cartoon. Nobody knows it’s a real place. So I see what comes next then come here to fix. See? Superpower.” I added, roasting the marshmallow. “Rainbow Dash called me Morgan because back Home, that’s what my name is. Morgan Spencer.”

“And...Killjoy has another name too?” Dynamite asked.

“Darcy.” I answered.

“Lilac?”

“Well...no. Lilac usually fits in.”

“Mr Thorax?”

“We call him Terry, mostly for laughs.”

“...will I get one?”

“...depends. Do you actually want to go?”

“Yeah.” Dynamite answered. Even her lower tone couldn’t hide the delight in her eyes. “But not yet.”

“That’s alright. We have a few months before we go back Home.” I assured her. “There’s plenty of time.”

“If Rainbow Dash hadn’t said your real name...would you be telling me this?” Dynamite asked.

I worried my lip for a moment. The Reality Bracelet flared brightly, shifting me back into my pony shape. “Someday...yes. We wanted to take it slow.”

“So you wouldn’t be telling me right now.” Dynamite grumbled.

“Well you’re a foster kid. I’ve been one myself. Killjoy too. It’s not exactly great to hear that your newest parent has been lying to you since you met.” I replied, snarky.

Dynamite gave no reply to that.

Standing up from my seat, I let out a small sigh. “Alright. Think you and Lilac are sharing a tent tonight. It’s common that I need to stay with KJ or else blood happens. Goodnight.”

She didn’t say a word to me, not even when I made the tent construct itself in four seconds. A personal best.

==CAH==

We found Rainbow Dash the next morning not long after the sun went up. She was sitting in the middle of a clearing, obviously let down. Yet everypony in her friend group thought she’d been hurt.

“Thank goodness you’re alright!” Rarity exhaled, relieved.

Twilight went to Rainbow’s side. “Quick, where does it hurt?” 

Rainbow Dash put a hoof over her heart. “In  _ here _ . Daring Do and the ring have been captured by the dreaded Ahuizotl, and it’s all my fault.” Rainbow Dash sighed. Everypony gasped. She turned to me. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“It was an honest mistake. And despite how much I may act otherwise, I am not  _ God _ . Nothing could have stopped you from fangirling out in front of your favorite character.”

“But you never do!” Rainbow Dash complained.

Killjoy snickered.

“Shut up.” I warned her.

“She was a  _ mess _ when she met her favorite character-”

“I told you to shut up!”

“Really, I don’t think I had a better day than that call she gave me after-” I used magic to cover her mouth again.

Rainbow Dash let out a long defeated breath. “Whatever. Let’s just go home.”

“We can’t go back now! From what Ra-  _ Morgan _ told us, she needs our help more than ever!” Applejack explained.

“Trying to help is how I got in this mess in the first place.” Rainbow Dash explained. She got up, walking off probably towards Ponyville. “You were right, Twilight. We should’ve stayed out of this.”

Twilight went to walk beside her. Lilac looked over my head to watch the exchange. “Look, there is more going on here than meets the eye. In every  _ Daring Do _ book, there always is! We can’t turn our backs on her!”

“She doesn’t  _ want _ my help, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash countered.

“Perhaps. But she might need it anyway.” Twilight pointed out.

“No. My hero’s way better off without me.” Rainbow Dash sighed, her head lowering towards the ground.

“This don’t sound like you.” Applejack commented.

“Where’s the Rainbow Dash who would help anypony at the drop of a hat?” Pinkie asked, jumping on Dash’s back.

“Or pith helmet, as the case may be.” Rarity spoke up.

Killjoy gave me a look. I dropped the magic around her mouth. “Where’s the Rainbow Dash that threatened to kill me if I ever dosed her with Poison Joke again?” Killjoy asked. “It’s not fun to torture you if you’re this dead inside.”

“She’s here where she’s got no business being. She should be at home.” Rainbow Dash argued. She walked a little faster.

“It’s fine to look up to Daring Do, but you’ve put her so high up on a pedestal, you can’t even see your own worth anymore!” Twilight yelled. Rainbow Dash paused in her steps. “She’s in the fortress, and we’re here, and we wouldn’t be who we are if we didn’t go in after her! And neither would you! So, are you with us, or not?”

Rainbow Dash hesitated. “Morgan already has a plan?”

“Pfft.” I scoffed.

Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder. “Will it work?” I gave her a look. “Right...what can I do?”

“Whatever Rainbow Dash usually does when her friends are in danger.” I supplied with a knowing grin.

Rainbow’s face steeled in her usual determination. She grinned, wings flaring on her back. “Then let’s do it!”

==CAH==

“Killjoy, Rainbow, go after Daring Do! We’ll meet you inside!” I instructed.

Killjoy nodded. She and Rainbow Dash flew off.

“Dynamite Berry!” I called.

The blue pegasus trotted up to me. “What.”

I moved my Bag towards her. “Don’t give me that flat look. You’ll actually like this part.”

Dynamite glanced at the Bag, then at me. “Why?”

My grin stretched out wide. “My original idea was to storm in- but after meeting you, I have an idea on how to get inside  _ and _ their attention.”

Dynamite opened the Bag. The items that had moved to the top caught her red gaze. She looked up at me in awe.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked. “Go play with explosives!”

“What?!” Twilight yelled.

Dynamite lifted up the tools from the Bag- easy ones any person could make a bomb out of- sometimes it paid off working in the FBI. 

Twilight came to my side, pushing on my shoulder. “Did you give Dynamite Berry explosives?!”

“No! That’s insane!” I gawked. “I gave her the tools to  _ make _ explosives! What do I look like? A madwoman?!”

Twilight gawked.

Applejack sighed. “Twilight, that’s the same woman that gave Killjoy knives.” She reminded her friend. “Are you  _ really  _ that surprised?”

“And poisons.” Lilac supplied, which made Twilight gawk at her.

“And didn’t she try to get Thorax to blow up Queen Chrysalis?” Fluttershy asked.

“When you guys put it like that, I sound like a monster.” I pointed out.

“You also befriended Discord.” Twilight realized, face-hoofing.

I pointed a hoof at her. “ _ That’s _ because he helped get a vampire demon out of my head that first go around, not because of his- wait I’m just hearing that out loud...maybe I am a monster.”

“It’s done!” Dynamite cheered. She flew up, holding a mediocre bomb in her hooves. It was pretty good for a rushed job. “What do I do now?”

My hoof pointed towards a wall.

Dynamite nodded. “Everypony may wanna take a couple steps back!”

The Mane 6 yelped, rushing to hide behind bushes. Lilac held tighter to my head as I walked to join them.

“Mom. You know you’re not a monster, right?” Lilac prompted.

I reached a hoof up to ruffle her head scales. “Course not, Princess. I’m just terrifying when I put my mind to it.”

Dynamite flew to my side, ducking behind a bush. “DOWN!”

Everypony ducked. I stood up. Lilac jumped off my back, sitting beside Dynamite.

**BOOM**

The wall- a big stone wall that was well aged but thick and _ why is this working?! _ \- blew away. 

I stood up, running towards it. “Come on! We need to get moving!”

Everypony joined me in running inside. If they were extra mindful of their steps around the entrance, well then it was nice to see them getting a clue!

As we ran in the building, we soon ran into the room where the ceremony was taking place. Ahuizotl was cackling as two ponies began lowering a golden ring onto a display, covered in larger golden rings. Honestly he looked even less intimidating than he did in the cartoon. Literally just a giant Egyptian cat that was blue. Yeah the tail that was also a paw was weird, but dude I’ve seen Discord. None of these creatures scare me.

“Drop the ring, Ahui... whatever your name is!” Applejack was the first to speak on our arrival.

They all rushed at it.

I dropped Lilac and Dynamite at the entrance. “Stay!” 

“But Mom-”

“Mrs Stardu-”

“ **Stay!** ” I ordered, before joining the fray.

“Hmph, place the ring, quickly!” Ahuizotl ordered his henchponies. Before the henchponies could do so, Pinkie hopped in place. She knocked the ring away from them. “Get it!”

The ring rushed around the place. Two other henchponies dived towards it, only for Applejack to kick their heads. Another henchpony managed to grab it, tossing the ringto Ahuizotl. Fluttershy intercepted. She flew away from the large cat. Twilight caught the ring in her horn, teleporting before anypony could catch her.

As for myself I was  _ kicking ass _ . 

I was lifting up henchponies, knocking them into each other. A  _ ‘beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker’  _ attack style. My hooves were also kicking ponies that were rushing towards me or others. A few tried going after my kids which was just me assuming they wanted to die. Those dumb bastards were thrown at a wall.

Killjoy, along with the two other pegasi, snuck in at some point in the fighting. They were beginning to take the rings off the pillar. One by one, they threw off the golden rings.

I was in possession of the ring at one point. As henchponies rushed at me, I was firing off blasting spells to their faces. 

An explosion went off to the side. Glancing over I saw three ponies huddled on the ground, clearly in pain. Another glance showed Dynamite doing a victory pose.

“What was that?!” I asked her.

“I had some explosive left over!” Dynamite cheered.

_ Dynamite you are going to fit right into this crazy family. _

Ahuizotl tried reaching for the ring in my magical grip. So I flew up to his face and kicked it. He roared at me. I roared right back, diving towards his stomach for another dramatic kick. He was thrown back into a wall.

Then he caught sight of the three pegasi lifting the heavy golden rings off the pillar. The entire pyramid structure we were all in was beginning to collapse.

“ _ Stop her _ !” Ahuizotl ordered.

As the henchponies rushed towards them, I rushed towards the girls. Lilac quickly reached out for me. I threw her on my back while grabbing Dynamite in my hooves. I teleported us out of the structure, into the outside.

I dropped the girls down. They rolled away. As the building finally crumbled down I cast a shield spell around us. Any debris bounced off.

“You good?” I asked them.

“Yeah.”

“Yes Mom.”

“Good.” I turned to Dynamite. “You brought explosives into a pyramid, then threw it at ponies?”

Dynamite winced. “I know-”

“-that is was the coolest thing ever cause nopony died?!” I interrupted. Grinning at Dynamite, I pulled her into an embrace. “Dynamite Berry you  _ rock!” _

The foal smiled. 

The pyramid collapsed behind us. We rounded up with the others, as Rainbow Dash and Daring Do tossed the ring onto the ground. It shattered.

==CAH==

Back in Ponyville, I was enjoying a cup of hot chocolate with Killjoy. Thorax was having the entire adventure explained to him by Dynamite. Yes including the bit with explosives.

Killjoy was pouting, pouring alcohol into her hot cocoa. “You give the foal blow-up shit then don’t even let me see? You’re a bitch.”

“Hmm.” I sipped at the hot chocolate. “Unapologetically.”

Killjoy scoffed. She lowered her mug, glancing towards the blue pegasus that spoke with such animation to a delighted changeling. “She knows the truth, yeah?”

“Yeah.” I explained. “Took it like a champ.”

“Yeah well, all your kids have.” Killjoy countered. “But I don’t think they all will.”

“All?” I asked.

Killjoy gave me a deadpan stare. “There is no doubt in my mind you’re adopting, like, twenty children before you and Thorax actually make one.” She sipped at her hot cocoa.

I blushed.

“-then Mom gave me a bunch of stuff for a bomb! I didn’t even know she had all that stuff!” Dynamite explained. “She said I could use it and I did! I blew up a huge wall of a pyramid! It was awesome!”

“Did you die?!” Cookie asked.

“No. I can handle explosives without exploding! What am I, an amateur?” Dynamite scoffed.

I blinked.

Killjoy just shook her head. “Yep. She’s one of us.”

“She called me mom.” I pointed out, surprised and also touched.

Killjoy snickered. “They all do.”

So we finished our hot cocoa, still listening in on the exciting story. 


	6. Raspberry Stardust's Fun With Flags

Luna admired the large wide open plains. Say what you will about Princess Morgan’s Dreams, they weren’t boring.

There was much about the shared dreams that Luna could be fond of. For so long, nopony had appreciated her night, spending their time sleeping it away. Morgan had been one of the first ponies in Luna’s return to greet her with delight- eagerness, dare Luna say. At first Morgan’s lucid dreaming at panicked Luna, until Morgan had set it all up for both her own entertainment and for Luna’s. 

A few hours of escape once a week, with no need to take a train. Luna was overjoyed at having a friend. It was healing, for them both Luna liked to say.

Once again Luna stood in the vast expanse of Underland. Her Alice-Dress was in place. Luna was fond of the black bow, she would admit.

The walk to the Tea Party table was much shorter. Morgan had always noticed when Luna arrived in her mind for their weekly meetups. Luna spotted the tea party all decked out for somepony to join. The long table was adorned with treats, teapots, and the occasional cracked piece.

Morgan sat at the head of the table. She was sitting sideways in the chair in her human form. Her legs dangled over an armrest, swinging idly. She was dressed in a garish green trench coat, a multicolored necktie, black polka dot shirt, and black pants smudged with rust. She stared off into the distance, eyes unseeing but Luna knew Morgan would come back to herself in a second’s notice if somepony approached for an attack.

DorKilljoy was dancing about the table engaging in swordplay with any food that was too close to her position. Yes her sister was in her pegasus form. Luna had a mind to question her about it.

“Why are we here again?” Luna wondered.

Morgan didn’t move from her position. “There aren’t a lot of places I can wear a top hat.

“Of course.” Luna had  _ no idea  _ if that was true or not. Still, seeing Underland wasn’t a disturbance. Not a complete one- after all it’s not like Morgan had Discord’s Reality altering powers. “And why did you desire to wear a top hat?”

Morgan hummed, thoughtful. She stared at her tablemates. The Killjoy who was a Dormouse was still there. Though, there was now a crazy looking rabbit with a remarkable resemblance to Thorax. Only he wore a gray waistcoat with a blue bowtie.

“Do you lot have any ideas?” Morgan prompted.

DorKilljoy blinked blankly, stopping in her attack on the biscuits. March-Thorax tilted his head, purple compound eyes shifting from small pupil to large quite rapidly.

“Tea!” March-Thorax decreed. He grabbed a mug of tea, throwing it at a nearby tree. Instead of smashing the glass, or spilling the tea, the cup grew and grew until the tree could wear it as a hat. The tea turned into a sludge, falling over the tree like long dreadlocks.

Luna was disturbed...but couldn’t find a good enough reason to leave. 

Morgan seemed to think it was funny all the same. “He thinks I’m a cutie with the hat.” She boasted, tipping the hat to March-Thorax.

“And why is Killjoy still...pardon...a mouse?” Luna pointed with a hoof to the shrieking mouse, who was in a dastardly fight against a sponge cake.

Morgan pursed her lips, glancing towards her dream-state sister. After a moment’s thought, she shrugged. “It’s funny.”

Luna hummed. 

“Take a seat. You’re making me look like a bad host.” Morgan commented. She leaned back on a cushioned armrest, staring up at the blue clouds against the orange sky.

Luna took the suddenly there chair. She fixed herself a cup of tea, mindful of DorKilljoy’s attacks. March-Thorax’s random yelps were harder to predict. Luna only spilled a small splash of the tea- it sludged when it hit the dirt. “How are things progressing, Morgan Stardust?”

The human took a long moment to respond. She blew out a breath, forming a clear bubble that hovered over the table. “Honestly? It could be worse.” She picked up her glass- not looking away from the bubble. “Dynamite started school this morning. She decided she wouldn’t do the flag-carrying, which I was totally okay with. But then- Scootaloo had the  _ insane _ idea to use _ fireworks _ in the display-”

“Oh dear.” Luna recalled them talking about Dynamite the past few weeks. The pegasus was a pyromaniac in the making. While being adopted by Morgan could curtail that...after meeting Killjoy it just seemed inevitable that Morgan would only delay any violent tendances.

Morgan nodded. “It would’ve been fine but Scootaloo knocked dust up when she tried flying, which made Lilac sneeze-”

Luna winced.

“Yeah. Now you get it.” Morgan huffed out another bubble. March-Thorax took notice of it. He gave a war cry then clapped after it. “Lilac managed to get it straightened out- no help from  _ me _ , I’m so proud- but Dynamite admitted her help there was crazy.”

“Were Lilac’s friends alright?” Luna asked.

“Yeah. Just disappointed they didn’t get cutiemarks out of the whole thing.” Luna smiled fondly at the folly of foals. “Dynamite didn’t care- she told me and Thorax she would keep Lilac away from her projects until they were ready.”

The Night Princess’ eyes widened. “You _ still _ let her experiment with explosives? After an  _ explosion? _ ”

“She  _ begged me _ \- that it  _ physically hurt to not have them.” _ Morgan whined. “And I am  _ weak _ when my children ask for things!”

Luna gawked. “She- ponies could’ve been hurt!”

Morgan hummed. “‘ _ Fail. Try again. Fail better.’ _ Or maybe- _ ‘I didn’t fail a thousand times, the lightbulb was an invention with a thousand steps’.” _

March-Thorax and DorKilljoy let out loud cheers at the quotes.

Luna just decided to accept the comments then move on. “Well at least she’s learning more proper safety standards. Besides that, she is handling the adjustment of your humanity quite well.”

That made Morgan sigh once more. DorKilljoy threw a needle at the bubble- only trapping the needle inside. “When she gets fingers, she’ll never go back to hooves again.” Though Luna couldn’t tell if Morgan was despondent by the news or amused.

“All danger aside, it is good to hear how the foals earned the position.” Luna complimented. “Queen Thorne has assured us that her own kingdom will make their entrance a dazzling spectacle-why are you glaring at me like that?”

Sure enough- the human Princess now looked Luna’s way. Her usual calculating amber eyes were now open with pure annoyance. Her table mates stopped in their mirth, feeling a sudden tension brewing.

“Morgan Stardust?” Luna prompted. “What is wrong? Has something happened on your end?”

Morgan seethed. Multiple bubbles flew out of her mouth, this time they were a brilliant reflective red. “No. Just- annoyed.”

Luna paused. Did...did Morgan just say  _ annoyed _ ?

As if to prove her words, Morgan let out a long whine. “Thorax- the idiot that he is- signed us up to carry the Changeling Flag!”

Luna blinked.

“Don’t you laugh!” Morgan warned.

Her smile was growing.

“Don’t you do it!”

Luna’s chest moved with a withheld giggle.

“I’m warning you!”

A small noise escaped her throat.

“Last warning!”

DorKilljoy began cackling. She rolled around in the crumbs of a destroyed sugar cookie. March-Thorax fell out of his seat, he was laughing so hard.

“The only reason I’m not throwing a teapot at you is because I’d get used to it and throw it when you’re awake!” Morgan ranted at the cackling changeling. Even Luna was doing poorly to hide her mirth. “But I can do whatever I like to _ you _ .”

Morgan hopped up in her chair. She reached up, popping the bubble where DorKilljoy had stabbed a needle. She grabbed the needle, aiming it at the tiny pegasus. “Prepare to  _ die!” _

DorKilljoy squeaked. She dived away from an attack.

Luna rolled her eyes. Most- if not all- of Morgan’s dreams dissolved into a fight between her and her sister. If Luna didn’t know better, she’d assume that Morgan hated her sister. Luna could remember the grief Morgan had suffered after Killjoy’s passing. All those nightmares, all that darkness hanging over Morgan like a storm cloud, the vacant stare she would have whenever Killjoy was brought up. It made 

She turned to March-Thorax, who was staring into a teacup. “I know you are not the true Thorax. But still, I would say that I give you my condolences.”

March-Thorax blinked his blank eyes. “My coat keeps me warm!” He then dumped a teapot full of tea on his head.

Luna nodded. Yes- this family was insane. Morgan captured their likeness quite well.

Speaking of insanity in their family, Morgan and DorKilljoy returned from their duel to the death. DorKilljoy had an axe in her back- where it had come from was unclear. Morgan herself was covered in needles. Neither reacted to the weapon(s) piercing their skin. If anything, Luna believed that they were used to it.

Which didn’t send a shiver up her spine. Nope. Nu-uh. No way. Not creepy at all.

“Settled?” Luna prompted, doing her best to avoid looking at any of the needles.

Morgan hummed. In a second all the needles fell off her skin, as if they’d been stuck to her skin like magnets. They weren’t- to be clear- they had  _ clearly  _ been stuck into the skin. They shouldn’t have fallen off like that without a considerable amount of pain. In the Waking World, at least. Morgan took it without _ flinching. _

DorKilljoy poked the axe in her back. March-Thorax tugged it out. DorKilljoy stared at the now red coated axe. “Cool!” She leapt after it.

“Yes.” Morgan sat back on the chair, dangling her legs from the armrest again. “Anything new on your end?”

“Well...not much. But I am kept busy all the same.” Luna admitted. “Celestia and Mi Amore Cadenza has handled much of the preparations for the Equestria Games, along with adding in the Changelings. Queen Thorne is handling her own country fairly well, along with the integration.”

“Good for her.” Morgan cheered. “Did she set a date-”

“She’s told my sister and myself that you would receive a letter soon.” Luna reported. “She trusts that you would have things under control. How do you plan on introducing the Changelings to Equestria?”

Morgan suddenly chuckled. “Darcy said I should show them vine compilations.” Luna tilted her head. “Yeah...you guys don’t know those. So we just decided to guide them in like Thorax was.”

Luna glanced at March-Thorax. The changeling was dangling tea cups from his antlers. He noticed was being watched. He grinned dopely. Tilting his head knocked down some of the cups.

“That’s not an accurate picture.” Morgan waved away the concern. “But it will be fine.”

“Very well.” Luna bowed her head in acceptance of Morgan’s plan. If she had no interest in sharing, then that was her business. “But all in all, everything has gone well.” She gave Morgan a side look. “If anything were to...interrupt...the festivities...the hint would be much appreciated.”

That long vacant stare fell over Morgan’s face again. She was well aware she was being watched now, so at least part of her was back at this table. Her smile fell into an uneasy frown, her shoulders tensed up. She sat up in her chair, taking the same position as Luna.

“Nothing is going to interrupt the Games.” Morgan stated.

Luna was relieved on that at least. Only...Morgan’s tone gave Luna the horrible idea that just because the Games weren’t being interrupted didn’t mean nothing would happen. “What danger is coming to Equestria, Morgan Stardust?”

“Nothing that can’t be stopped.” Morgan countered, her tone a distant assurance. “Time to wake up.”

Luna knew that it was barely morning. “No it’s not-”

Luna was startled awake, shot out of the dream without any sign. 

==CAH==

In another world, there was a Tantabus.

That Tantabus wasn’t a good thing. A creature that literally made nightmares. What could be good?

It was born from loss and shame.

It had been made to punish a lonely soul.

Interesting, then. What happens when that soul has a companion? What happens when they don’t feel so lonely? Feel such shame? 

Perhaps a world like that was better.

==CAH==

Miles and miles away...a mythological monster was beginning his plan to rise to power.


	7. By The Power Vested In Me

It was a lovely sunny day at the Stardust house. (Raspberry was denying any of Thorax’s name suggestions. The house  _ totally _ needed a name and Phil was  _ completely fine!) _

Thorax woke up to sunshine coming in from the window. He could remember Raspberry saying she’d moved it during her remodel of the house, changing it so the sun didn’t shine directly in her eyes every morning. Thorax appreciated the sunlight all the same. It kept the room from being totally freezing, how Raspberry liked it. Thorax was part insect, his Hive was in the desert, he wasn’t built for this sort of weather!

Either way a good start to the morning.

He shifted into a fly, buzzing out from the bed. Raspberry wasn’t a morning pony so waking her up was a bad idea (well unless she had a prank to play on Killjoy).

Thorax buzzed out of the room, sneaking out with barely a sound. He flew off downstairs to the kitchen. He started making breakfast. He remembered his first attempts at breakfast- probably for the best that Raspberry and Killjoy never saw them. But now he had  _ skills _ .

He used those skills to cook for the omnivores in his family. He made muffins- blueberry, a favorite. Lilac’s were given amethysts too. Thorax cooked up hash browns and scrambled eggs. He thought about pancakes, but remembered he made them yesterday. 

Before long there was a proper breakfast set up. Thorax was begging to set up plates when he heard turned tumbling down the stairs. 

Lilac and Cookie came into the dining room. Lilac stumbled into her seat, blinking tiredly. Cookie was practically crawling to her seat. Thorax set the plates down on the table. 

“Morning girls.” He greeted. “Sleep okay?”

Lilac blinked slowly. Her eyelids dropped between blinks. Eventually she hummed an affirmative.

Cookie yawned. “Daddy... _ tired _ !”

“Oh I know, Cooks.” Thorax moved the plate closer to her. “Nothing muffins and eggs can’t fix, yes?”

Cookie stared down at the plate before her. She seemed to be having an internal debate.  _ Food, but moving. Staying still, but no food.  _ A battle for the ages. 

Thorax left her to her conflict. The food would win in the end, as it won every morning. 

He heard another two ponies come down the stairs. He set up the rest of their plates, guessing pretty fast what they would want from the spread he’d made. 

Killjoy stumbled down. She ground, flying into her seat in a near dead flop. If Thorax didn’t know better, he’d say Killjoy had a hangover. She had a high alcohol tolerance- superpony levels of tolerance. Dynamite was much cheerier. A morning pony in disguise, no doubt.

Thorax moved plates in front of them. Dynamite grinned at him. “Thanks, Dad.”

“Welcome Dynamite.” He set about making his own plate, and Raspberry’s. She’d stayed up late reading. “Plans for the day?”

Dynamite grinned. “Yeah! Princess Twilight has a whole wall at her library about science so I was gonna go by, see what I don’t know already about explosives!”

Cookie gawked. She had decided to eat her food, so there were blueberry bits stuck to her beak. Thorax was concerned she would take up an interest in explosives. “Books?” Oh that’s less scary.

Dynamite nodded, shyly. Thorax beamed at the admission. He could barely see the filly the Equestrian Social Services had spoken of, that rebelled in every home she had to the point where she’d run away. Or, maybe his perception of weird had been messed up along the way?

“I’m going to work at lunch, then I’m gonna kick the _ butt  _ of anypony that looks at me sideways.” Killjoy grumbled. She shoveled hashbrowns into her muzzle, gulping them down with water. “Maybe have fun with them. Well not  _ real _ fun, that’s not allowed, doesn’t mean I can’t  _ practice _ . Speaking of- Boytoy why is there no bacon?”

Thorax was still pondering his own perception of ‘weird’. “Yeah, good idea...wait no! You know Starry can’t let you near the pigs.” Thorax scolded, while knowing absolutely nothing about why Killjoy wasn’t allowed. Killjoy pouted. The petulant child that she was. “Lilac, Cookie?”

Lilac picked off the amethyst from her muffin. She popped it in her mouth, crunching down on it. “The Crusaders, again. Cookie and I are gonna help them.”

“How so?”

“Keep them away from the library.” Lilac supplied.

Thorax was confused for a split second. His eyes fell on Dynamite’s matching confused expression, and he got it. “Scootaloo still on the ‘extreme sports’ cutie mark idea?”

Lilac nodded, somber.

“What’s wrong with them talking to me? It went fine during your Flag Carrying idea!” Dynamite argued, still confused.

“My fillyhood friends are adrenaline junkies.” Lilac explained. “And Scootaloo thought your explosions were fun, so maybe they should try for ‘demolition expert’ cutiemarks.”

Dynamite stared in awe. “That’s...wow. I thought I was the only one that wanted that!”

Killjoy snickered. “What’s funny is that might actually be your cutiemark.” She cackled, nearly dropping off her chair she was laughing so hard. The girls were all staring in confusion at their aunt.

Thorax hummed. He lifted up the plates. “I’m gonna go feed your mother. Have a fun day kids!”

“Bye Dad!” “Yes Daddy!” “Nice knowing you, Rax!”

He laughed.

When he made it upstairs, Raspberry was grumbling in bed. Thorax thought it was adorable. Still, he liked being alive, so he didn’t antagonize her. He sat down in front of the bed, digging into the food. He levitated Raspberry’s plate to the nightstand on her side of the bed. He had to move a notebook to reach it.

Thorax brought the notebook to him. He could see the writing on the front. There were big white letters on the front in a language Thorax could never hope to recognize. He knew it was from Earth. Not much beyond that. Thorax opened up the journal. 

He started searching the pages. He reckoned that Raspberry had gathered up all her old notes from previous jumps to this world. To his delight, it was the  _ Marvel  _ world. Thorax saw pictures of Raspberry’s form in that world, the added articles about her, security photos of her sister. Even the later pages about the movies they haven’t done yet were done impressively.

There was clattering to the side. He looked over, seeing Raspberry sitting up. He beamed at her.

She grunted his direction.

Another love-filled greeting from the love of Thorax’s life.

Thorax held up the notebook. “So...we still going on this at the end here? I mean, it’s a lot of good work.”

She huffed, taking a bite from the muffin. 

“Cool...cool.” Thorax lowered the book. “Dynamite’s spending the day at the library, studying more explosives. Lilac and Cookie are gonna work to keep the Crusaders from talking to Dynamite after what happened before-”

Raspberry snickered.

“Drink water, Starry.” Thorax reminded her. Choking on breakfast was a bad way to start the day, generally. He carried on. “Your sister is gonna work at lunch, so we won’t see much of her. Oh, she’s asking about pigs again-”

Raspberry groaned, then snickered.

“One day you’ll tell me the meaning behind that inside joke.”

“That’ll be the day you die.” Raspberry countered. “It’ll be self-inflicted because the truth was too horrible to bare in mind.”

“Talking from personal experience?”

“Babe it’s an awful truth...but also really funny.” Raspberry let out a fond sigh. “What a shitty summer that was.”

Well if she was making death jokes, she was in stable condition. Thorax stood up. He plopped himself beside her in the bed. Raspberry laughed.

“What’re we doing today?” Thorax asked.

Raspberry hummed. She finished off the muffin, moving onto the scrambled eggs. “ _ Power Ponies- _ you heard of them?” Thorax nodded, beaming. “Spike has an enchanted comic that sucks the Mane 6 into it, as the characters.”

“So like what you do anyway?” Thorax asked.

Raspberry paused. “...I hadn’t considered that.”

Thorax grinned. He was clever...sometimes. “So they work alongside-”

“No they work _ as _ the Power Ponies. Not at all like I do.” Raspberry realized. She shook her head. “Ugh- I’m so tired. They replace the characters, probably because of the book-”

“But isn’t that what you do?”

“No! I don’t! I- the identities I have were never there in the first place! They only exist to become me! Which makes me sound like a  _ bitch  _ but-  _ UGH _ !” Raspberry argued. “Quit throwing off my groove!”

“It’s fun though-” Thorax snickered. He booped Raspberry’s cheek.

She groaned, being too adorable to fear. At least in Thorax’s heart eyes. “They have to fight a megalomaniac! They all figure out the powers then get kicked out of the book. Nothing weird or out of the normal!”

“You’re going with, then?” Thorax smiled fondly.

“Of course I am! What do I look like, someone boring?” Raspberry scoffed in disgust. “You too?”

Thorax beamed. “Really?! I can- is this you being nice, or part of the Plan?”

“Does it matter?” Raspberry questioned.

Thorax pondered for a moment. “...nah.”

==CAH==

Long story short, Raspberry and Thorax followed them. It had gone as well as could be expected. Raspberry had ended up as a superhero- Voice Over, her same superhero identity from years ago. Thorax was a civilian, which was completely okay.

When Raspberry had been captured with the others, Thorax had spoken to Spike about it. He had given this really moving speech about how just because he was in the background to a lot of Raspberry’s plans didn’t mean that he was any less important to the plan itself. Thorax reminded Spike about his time at the Hive, how he’d been nothing but a drone, talked about how he moved past that to be the pony he is now.

It was really moving

Someone should’ve written it down.

Oh well.

Shame nopony will ever see it with their eyes.

At the end, Raspberry and Thorax went home. They were laughing with each other- jokes about what happened.

“I’m just saying, the suit really complimented your-” Thorax teased.

“Shut  _ up _ you  _ dork _ .” Raspberry laughed. She bumped her hips against Thorax’s legs.

The changeling stumbled in his steps, laughing still.

They walked towards their home. By this point in the day, it should be empty. It was, on the inside. Outside it was 100% more populated.

A mare stood on their porch. Raspberry and Thorax paused in their steps. In their experience, someone on their porch often went wrong. 

“Do you owe ponies money?” Raspberry whispered to Thorax.

Thorax shook his head. “You blackmail anypony?”

Raspberry hesitated. “...not in Equestria.”

“I’ll take it.” Thorax braced himself. “Let’s brave it.”

The couple nodded in agreement. They took a slow approach to the stranger on their porch.

Funny enough, the earth pony did not look threatening. She had a soft pink coat, a short pale green mane, and two blue saddlebags on her sides. Thorax was the first to spot her cutiemark: a rolled out scroll covered in doodles of varying color.

They continued their ‘sneaky’ trot up to their own house. The mare was staring at the house, clearly having done internal debate about leaving or staying. Once they were close enough, they let their steps be heard. 

The mare turned to them. She visibly brightened at the sight. She waited to speak until they were closer. “Hello. My name is Star Petunia. I’m a caseworker at social services.” She introduced.

Thorax and Raspberry blinked.

“Oh. Welcome.” Raspberry was the quickest back to sense. She put on her warmest greeting smile. “Seeing as you came to us, you probably know I’m Raspberry Stardust, and this is Thorax.”

“We like being nice anyway.” Thorax waved a hoof.

“We’d actually appreciate it if you considered becoming foster parents.” The social worker admitted. “Just- in case of emergencies. You know?”

Raspberry turned to Thorax. The changeling turned to look at her. The social worker watched as they seemed to have a silent conversation she wasn’t privy to. She was able to guess that Raspberry was asking for yes, while Thorax was trying to find a good reason to say ‘no’. In the end something in him saw a good reason to wholeheartedly agree. 

“We’re in.”

“Great!” She pulled out a form. “Most of the paperwork was handled back at the office. All we need from you are your signatures.”

The couple took the form, along with and offered quill. Raspberry quickly. Thorax took a moment, deciding to just plainly write his name instead of the fancy swirling.

“Here you go!” Thorax cheerfully passed the form back.

“Great!” Star Petunia pulled out a stamp, pressing it down on the top of the form. She slipped it into her saddlebag...then pulled out a file. “Here’s your new foal.”

“What?!” Raspberry’s expression dropped. 

Thorax took the file before Raspberry had the chance. He opened it, giving it a confused once over. Raspberry pulled on it, so he moved it so they could both read it.

“Short notice, we’re aware.” Star Petunia continued. “We  _ did  _ say emergencies and well...your name was still on our minds from Ms Berry’s case. When I brought it up to his social worker, your family was an easy choice.”

Thorax read the case. The foal was an Earth pony, just barely past age 10. He had a dark blue coat, a neon green/blue scaragglu mane, and neon green eyes. There was no registered cutiemark. Thorax saw a fairly empty list of foster homes, but that was because he had been found alone. His parents had vanished- last reported headed south.

_ Poor colt...he’s had it rough _ .

There was a picture. Thorax quickly snatched it before Raspberry could see him.

She gave Thorax an annoyed glare. 

“No.” Thorax cautioned. “We’ll fall in love- you know we will.”

“We don’t have a boy yet.” Raspberry pointed out. Her sharp amber eyes kept darting to the picture. “You must be drowning in estrogen.”

“Raspberry I grew up in a matriarchy then rebelled so I could serve  _ a different  _ matriarchy. And I married  _ you _ , serving in a  _ complete new  _ matriarchy. I expected a lot of estrogen.” Thorax countered.

“Married?” Star Petunia repeated, surprised. “Our records didn’t-”

“Changelings haven’t been able to integrate their legal works into the Equestria system.” Thorax explained to her. He went back to Raspberry. “We  _ shouldn’t. _ ”

“Because that’s the answer you need to say first?” Raspberry teased.

Star Petunia knew the Princess had him pinned. 

Thorax sighed, resigned. He turned back to Star Petunia. “Is adopting him a possibility?”

“What? Mr Thorax we only need you to foster-” Star Petunia began.

“No I heard. This’ll save save time later if we know now.” Thorax pressed on. “Can he be adopted at a later date?”

“Well...um...his parents are technically still  _ ‘unknown’ _ , location wise but...I don’t see why-” Star Petunia admitted. She was still confused as to the line of questioning.

“If he stays here, is there a chance in the long run we can adopt him?” Thorax clarified.

“I would have to check the rules.” She admitted. She glanced at Raspberry, who was trying to grab the photo from Thorax with magic. It was going poorly. “So I can’t say just yet. Why are you asking?”

“Because there’s a real chance she wants to adopt him already.” Thorax answered. “Right, Starry?”

“I would.” Raspberry answered. “If you let me see his face.”

“This is as honest as I’ll get you until you see this picture.” Thorax argued. He pulled the photo further away from the pink alicorn. “So I’m guessing the answer is ‘maybe’ for adoption?”

Star Petunia blinked. “Yes.”

Thorax braced himself. “Okay.” He let Raspberry take the picture.

She gawked. She turned to Thorax, as if to see if this were true. Thorax nodded. She turned back to Star Petunia.

“We’ll take him. Tell Dark Justice he’ll have his own room by night fall.” Raspberry supplied. “Honey, do you still have that old house from when you moved here?”

“It’s a mess. I can have it cleaned in an hour.” Thorax replied. Raspberry nodded. “We’d have to tell the girls.”

“Then we tell them at dinner. I bet he’ll be there just after.” Raspberry replied. “What about-”

“Killjoy will think it’s funny.” Thorax replied. “Come on, Dark Justice? Sounds like-”

“The makings of Batman, I know. Let’s just hope-”

“-that we can keep him and he fulfills his destiny?”

“-that we keep him from going full stupid.”

“-makes sense, makes sense.” Raspberry nodded.

Star Petunia blinked at them. It showed her professionalism when she took this oddity in stride. “I’ll have him brought over by 7pm. His social worker is Swift Wind.”

Thorax nodded. He accepted the information, adding a mental tick to his schedule for dinner.

Raspberry eyed Star Petunia carefully. “Hey. If Dark Justice has a social worker, and I  _ know  _ you’re not Dynamite Berry’s, then who are you?”

Star Petunia grinned, with a smugness Raspberry could respect. “I’m the only pony in the office who was brave enough to bring you the file, and clever enough to know you’d say yes.”

And so, Raspberry respected the  _ gall _ of Star Petunia. She damn near played them like fiddles.

==CAH==

That was the house Dynamite walked into when her time at the library was done. She had her saddlebags packed tight with borrowed books. 

Her new parents were working on the new setup. Raspberry was scribbling on paper, multiple pencils scattered around the table. Thorax was starting on dinner.

“What are you doing?” Dynamite asked. 

Raspberry didn’t look up from her designs. “Redesigning the house.”

“Again?” Dynamite asked. She knew they did that when Dynamite moved in, she wondered why they’d do it again so soon.

“Yeah.” Raspberry replied, dragging off. “Honey could we turn the her door into a door for the hallway?”

“Babe you know way more about it than me-”

“I know I’m just asking for your own convenience.” Raspberry replied.

“Why would I want to-”

“In case we add something cool later.”

“We’re already adding ten rooms. What more would we need?”

“Well I was trying to be  _ nice _ .”

Dynamite glanced between the couple that had taken her into their family. “We’re adding ten rooms? Do we have the space?”

“Course we do.” Raspberry brushed off. She sent an annoyed glare Thorax’s way before going back to Dynamite. “I have a great understanding of bending the laws of physics.”

Dynamite looked over at Thorax. The changeling was nodded, tiredly. As if he’s given up any logical explanation for that. “Why are we adding new rooms? Is it in case Lilac burns then down?”

“That’s not a terrible assumption.” Raspberry noted. “But no.”

“You’re getting a brother!” Thorax cheered loudly. “We’re fostering him. He’ll be here later tonight!”

Dynamite gawked.

Raspberry glared. “We agreed we’d wait to tell everyone at once.”

“And I thought we agreed you’d stop asking me construction questions. I can’t even build a birdhouse, Starry,  _ a birdhouse _ !”

Dynamite immediately dropped all concern. If he was calling her those gooey pet names, they weren’t really fighting. “Seriously, fostering? You’re doing that?”

“Why not?” Raspberry countered.

“Killjoy.” Dynamite deadpanned.

“Back Home, she was a foster kid herself. She sees the need, gets it.” Raspberry explained with an all too smug expression. “And _ that _ implies she’s staying in the house. She’s moving into Bee’s old home.”

Dynamite hummed. “You’re giving Killjoy a house?”

“Yes.”

“And we’re aware how stupid an idea it sounds.” Thorax supplied. He kept on cooking dinner. “Giving Killjoy a murder-house-”

“It’s not a murder-house.” Raspberry argued.

“Prove it!” Thorax countered.

Raspberry huffed. “She’s not  _ that  _ stupid. If she made it into a murder-house, she’d get caught by  _ me _ .”

Thorax scoffed. “She’s not  _ that _ afraid of you-  _ Whoa! _ ”

Raspberry had thrown a pencil at his head. It just barely avoided poking him in the eye.

Thorax stared at her, appalled. “Did you throw a pencil at me?”

“Did you ask a stupid question?” Raspberry countered.

Dynamite heard the door open behind her. She walked over to it, seeing Lilac and Cookie stumbling in.

“Hey. Dynamite.” Lilac panted. She wiped her forehead. “Phew. Long day. Mom and Dad home yet?”

Dynamite heard another object being thrown- probably another pencil or something. “Yes.” Thorax yelped. “By the way, they got another kid. He’s coming tonight.”

Lilac gawked.

“I’m getting a brother?!” Cookie cheered in delight. “WAHOO!” She flew off into the dining room. Loud crashing noises followed, as clearly Cookie hadn’t stopped until she crashed into Raspberry’s face.

Dynamite snickered. She turned to a still confused Lilac. “Mom total has a black- hey you good?”

Lilac stared down at her feet, gobsmacked.

“Lilac?” Dynamite repeated. 

Lilac seemed to barely come back to herself. She looked up at Dynamite. She took a deep breath, seeming to be breathing her soul to rights. When she let out a breath Dynamite flinched. Lucky for her there wasn’t any flames.

The purple dragon took another deep breath, letting out another flameless breath. “Drat...I wanted to talk to them about-” Lilac cut herself off.

Dynamite shrugged. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t listen to you. Mom’s got like, a sixth sense for hearing stuff. She’s like- part...I don’t know, what’s something that hears really well?”

“Dolphins.” Lilac supplied in a monotone voice.

“Yeah. Dolphins- she can hear stuff like dolphins.” Dynamite nodded proudly. “She’d listen.”

Lilac shook her head. “No...it’s okay. I’ll just ask later. It’s okay.” She walked off into the kitchen. 

Dynamite glanced back towards them. She heard Cookie rambling in excitement, bursting with glee at another new sibling. Thorax was laughing at Raspberry, Raspberry was shouting in anger. Lilac was staying silent.

The blue pegasus could only wonder what her new brother was like. Sure, she could be afraid about another kid being added to the family, so soon after she herself was added. But in her barely one month since moving in, Dynamite saw what kind of pony Raspberry Stardust/Morgan Spencer was. She would treat them all equal.

Hell, and she was moving Killjoy out of the house. Imagine all the trouble she could get into without being under Raspberry’s roof.


	8. The Family Business

Thorax was finishing up the meal for the night. It was taking longer than expected. Given the events they knew were coming, it’s no surprise he was anxious. Tonight the Stardust House was gaining another male creature.

The girls had been moved into their new rooms. Killjoy was most excited for her murder house (no matter how much Raspberry warned  _ that’s not what it was!)  _ to be all for herself.

“What’d you make?” Raspberry asked. She turned a page over in the file she was reviewing. As foster parents, they were allowed to know what they were bringing into their home. Granted a few select items had been marked off for the safety of Dark Justice’s parents along with the colt himself.

He put down a finished dish, kept warm under a lid. “It’s lasagna! One that’s safe for ponies, one for meat eaters still in the oven. There are added sides of corn and peas.”

Raspberry winked at him.

“Yeah I know. You married the best.” Thorax boasted with a giddy smile. Thorax paused it though. A look of thoughtful confusion took its place. “What was the drink...?”

“Water?” Raspberry prompted. She was still reading it. She’d done it multiple times since the news had been delivered, alongside her recent magical remodel of the house. It was studying facts for her, something that anyone that knew her knew calmed her down.

Thorax clicked his hoof on the countertop. “Apple juice!” He went to grab it from the fridge. “Anything new to add?”

Raspberry blew out a breath. “No. It’s all the same as what Star Petunia told us. Parents last seen headed south. Dark Justice alone for a long time- well long for a kid.”

“Which is?”

“Six months.” Thorax winced. “Yeah...it’s not great. Bright side: he’s Dynamite’s age!”

“Great. Two kids that can cause trouble, raising an army of kids that will cause trouble.”

“Watch it, honey, I can still divorce you!”

“You would last two days before the insanity kicked in.”

“ _ Damn _ I hate when you’re logical.”

“Cause it turns you on?”

“Finish the dinner, house spouse.”

==CAH==

Dark Justice arrived to a house with a cooling meal and a packed table. It had been served warm, just in the turning point of being cool. Dark Justice-a small-for-his-age colt with a dark blue coat, scraggly mane of bright green and blue, eyes a matching bright green, and no cutiemark, and Swift Wind- a white coated earth pony, two blue shades colors for the professionally cut mane, and a cutiemark of a briefcase on wings- had arrived late, as had Thorax’s dinner preparations. 

When they arrived, Raspberry invited them in. Thorax offered food. Swift Wind declined the generous offer. It seemed that the Princesses of Canterlot- Raspberry immediately blaming Celestia as Luna would’ve given warning- had found out about the recent foster foal. They had set it up so a pegasus drawn chariot would bring social worker and foal to Ponyville. Swift Wind was anxious to have it returned. Apparently, it was converting from train to chariot that made them late.

Another reason for Celestia. Luna would  _ never  _ do something to Raspberry’s schedule by making others late. Raspberry would be annoyed. 

Also to note: all of Dark Justice’s belongings fit on the back of the chariot.

Unperturbed by the turned down invite, Thorax set up a plate for Dark Justice. The foal was obviously staying- some food would be good to help him settle down. Swift Wind left with a goodbye, along with promises to write should anything change or need to change. To Swift Wind, there were worse places to be left. 

It had been a smooth transition.

Honestly, that was the first sign to Raspberry and Killjoy that it would go south.

Dynamite and Cookie kept on with their dinner. Their new brother hadn’t said anything when asked questions, so clearly nothing to be had there. Lilac picked at her plate while focusing more on the adults and the newest addition. The colt glared at his plate when he was seated, as if  _ he _ were the one who could spit fire.

If the adults noticed they gave it no attention.

“So. Settle in okay?” Raspberry asked her sister.

Killjoy grinned. “Yep. All my weapons out in the open, no kids around to touch them. Life is good.”

“Remember-”

“It’s not a  _ murder house _ on penalty of  _ death _ .” Killjoy recited with an annoyed groan. She added an eye roll for flavor. Dynamite and Cookie giggled. 

Dark Justice kept on fire-glaring. 

Lilac sat up in her seat. “Mom, Dad, Auntie, is there any time this week we can meet to talk about...to talk?”

The three adults watched Lilac as she spoke then went back to themselves. Raspberry and Thorax were giving a look of ‘why not?’ Killjoy seemed to be annoyed, but going along. 

“Well...I have to help at Sweet Apple Acres later this week. Thorax volunteered too so he won’t let me back out.” Raspberry explained. She tapped her fork to her plate. “And I have to help Dark Justice settle into town.”

“The morning of?” Thorax offered.

Raspberry hummed, thoughtful. “That sounds good.”

Killjoy leaned to her side, where her niece sat. “Whatever they pick, I’ll show. Just don’t make it stupid.”

Lilac smiled, relieved but still tense in nerves. 

“Yeah okay. End of the week, before we head to Sweet Apple Acres. If Applebloom asked you to help, feel free. But if not, there’s plenty it town to do. You can show Dark Justice around if he feels up-”

“I don’t want to.” Dark Justice spoke for the first time since arriving.

It caught the attention of the whole table. 

Raspberry was suspended by her previous sentence. So she decided to finish it “-Lilac you’ve got until the weekend to get whatever you need for your argument. Got it?”

“Yes ma’am.” Lilac nodded her head. She was actually excited. Nervous as all hell, but excited. If she got what she was asking for, it would be a big step. She hoped they’d think she was ready for it.

Raspberry nodded. She turned back to Dark Justice in a  _ ‘now you’ _ kinda way. “So you don’t want to look?”

Dark Justice said nothing.

“That’s okay.” Raspberry stated, keeping up in a calm rational manner. Thorax followed along, giving a half nervous nod. “You can settle into you room-”

“No.” Dark Justice stated.

“Okay.” Raspberry nodded.

Dark Justice slammed his hooves on the table. Everyone tensed. “I don’t want to settle. I want to go home.”

Raspberry and Killjoy shared a subtle glance. Clearly planning a strategy for things escalated.

Dark Justice threw his plate at the wall. 

The girls just stared at the mark it left on the wall. One by one, they turned to the parents. 

Killjoy was grinning widely. Though the girls knew that Killjoy loved seeing Raspberry deal with problems. This time, even Killjoy seemed tense. Not an anxious tense, more a  _ ‘I remember what happens next and I don’t like it’ _ . It did nothing to ease the growing tension.

Thorax seemed to be mourning the food itself. The raging child did nothing to disturb him. Perhaps that was because he grew up in the Hive, with a lot of crazy foals running around. Perhaps it was because he had already decided things would go wrong, that his wife would handle it, so he didn’t stress over it.

Then came to the matriarch. Raspberry. She was tapping the tip of her hoof on the table, a thoughtful look on her face.

All the while, Dark Justice was screaming. “I hate this! I hate this stupid house and this stupid food and this stupid town! I want to go  _ home _ !”

Raspberry held up her hoof. It silenced the replies before they could even start. When the girls and fellow adults calmed enough, Raspberry’s bracelet came back to visibility to glow yellow.

The mark on the wall vanished. The food ended up in the trash. The broken plate had been fixed, then over to the sink. Not a sign of any rage to be seen.

Raspberry turned to Dark Justice. The colt was still raging on.

“Dark Justice.” Raspberry stated, her voice matronly stern. She was trying to break through the rage cloud no doubt in his head.

The colt ignored her. Instead, he ran to the repaired wall.

“Dark Justice.”

With a roar of rage, Dark Justice kicked the wall. 

Cookie yelped, latching onto the sister closest to her. Lilac wrapped a claw around Cookie’s back, trying not to show off how the claw was trembling. Dynamite was tense, her wings fidgeting. Killjoy’s wings were too- anyone could tell 

Raspberry’s wrist glowed blue.

The girls all vanished in a matching blue, Dynamite giving a disappointed groan. They had been moved into their respective rooms. Killjoy vanished also. Raspberry clearly wasn’t going to risk anything.

Thorax was left to his own devices. He stood up from his seat, horns glowing blue. He lifted up the remaining plates and dishes, moving them back to the kitchen. He went out to make sure everything was put away properly. Tupperware didn’t exist for nothing.

Raspberry came out of her seat, walking over towards the colt.

Dark Justice hadn’t stopped kicking the wall. He kicked and kicked and kicked the wall- denting it worse than the plate did. He was rage-screaming too. Those were getting weaker as he stopped for air, getting less air with each forceful kick. Though he had the energy of any colt, it had been an emotional day. Chances were this wasn’t going to go on for too long.

She watched silently. She hopped from her seat, walking towards the end of the table. She glanced at the hole being created in her wall. Dark Justice spotted her, kicking harder. Raspberry sat down on her haunches. Her expression was calm while watching, not a speck of glee or grief to be seen. She said nothing to encourage him, nor discourage him.

Before long, after more hefty kicks that tore the hole bigger in her wall, Dark Justice slumped to the floor. Once down, Dark Justice began to shake as another emotion decided to take control.

Raspberry scooted over to him. She used her wing to drape over his back, holding him to her side. The colt didn’t move- didn’t push her away- he was too busy hiding his sobs in his forehooves. She let him cry it all out, keeping a gentle hold on his back.

As they sat there, Thorax poked his head out. He glanced between the colt then Raspberry. He pointed at his own chest. An offer of help, or something of equal nature.

After a moment’s hesitation, Raspberry nodded.

The changeling settled on the other side of the colt. Thorax kept his wings to himself, offering his side merely as a warm body. He even shifted himself just enough that his sides were warmer than normal. Like a warm blanket heated up by a fire.

Dark Justice’s crying tapered off after ten minutes. The quiet shuddering sobs that came next lasted another ten minutes. When those faded too, a thick silence filled the dining room.

Raspberry used her regular magic to bring over a napkin. She placed in on Dark Justice’s hoof, waiting for his cue. Thorax brought over a few more- just in case.

Dark Justice gave a weak fight. He was nothing compared to the nurturing hugs both experienced parents gave. He ended up taking The tissue though- under protest. He sniffled as he roughly wiped the tears off his face. He tried to ignore the fact he cried in front of the stupid ponies.

“It’s been a long day.” Raspberry noted. She glanced to her husband. “Let’s go to bed, talk again in the morning?”

Thorax nodded.

“Good.” Raspberry turned to Dark Justice. “You can go up to your room. We put your name on it.” She held her wing tighter to his side. “We won’t keep you forever. When your parents come back, and everything is okay, we’ll let you go home.”

“I don’t want to stay.” Dark Justice grumbled. He grabbed the tissues from Thorax. “It’s stupid.”

“Yes, you said that.” Raspberry nodded. “Still it’s up to me and this one to watch you. You’re parents would want you someplace safe, where you only concerns are homework and them.”

Dark Justice stopped. Everypony has been telling him not to worry about his parents. They told him to focus on his school, or making friends. Nopony had said it was okay to worry about them too. They all wanted him to forget his parents.

“Yeah! Think about all the cool school stuff you can show them when they get back!” Thorax cheered. He gawked. “All the stuff they can put on the fridge.”

Raspberry smiled at him.

Dark Justice had to admit, in the solitude of his own mind. It wasn’t a bad idea...to get cool stuff to show his parents when they came back from the south.

“But not forever.” Dark Justice reminded.

Raspberry shook her head. “Not forever. It could be a week, or a month, or a year. We’ll watch you until you can go home. Not a day sooner, or a day later.” She promised.

Dark Justice sniffled again. “I want a bed.”

“Course!” Thorax used his magic to lift up the colt. He was lowered on Thorax’s back. With pep in his step, Thorax carried the foal off to his room. “It’s not all decked out yet. We didn’t know what you liked, so it’s all basic. You can tell us if you want other colors. Oh! Books! Starry put a  _ bunch  _ of books in there. Those are an easy like for kids!”

Raspberry rolled her eyes fondly. She followed after him, keeping herself from walking too close. An early night for everyone was best.

==CAH==

That night, Thorax and Raspberry settled into their room. 

“Wow.” Thorax whistled as he slid into bed.

“I know.” Raspberry replied plainly. She was reading over her Plan for this upcoming episode, adding notes for Lilac’s meeting and help with Dark Justice.

“ _ Wow _ .” Thorax repeated.

“Honey, I  _ know _ .” She reminded him.

His cheeks- and most it his body, unfortunate trait- “Just- I’ve never seen an Equestrian foal get mad like that.” Thorax admitted. Raspberry said nothing. “Did...did you know kids like that? Beside Killjoy.”

Raspberry smiled at the remark. It turned down as she recalled the past. “A few. They...they were always waiting for their parents, but sometimes they seemed to realize they’d never come back. It was always a coin flip to if they got depressed or-” She nodded her head vaguely in the direction of the dining room.

Thorax sat in bed, thoughtful. “You grew up around that?”

“My sister did.” Raspberry corrected. “I was just along for the ride...Author I hated that I wasn’t an adult there. We were in a  _ lot  _ of houses- foster or girl’s homes...it hit hard, you know?”

Thorax couldn’t even begin to understand what it was like. He could read Raspberry’s emotions, but he couldn’t feel them. Not as she did from experience. It was genuine emotions like those that were hard to replicate. “Are you coming to bed?” He said, as it was the only thing one could say.

Raspberry nodded. She made a few more ticks and notes on the Plan, walking over to the bed. “We always have tomorrow.”

“...when the sun comes out-”

“Divorce.” Raspberry jokingly warned.

Thorax only grinned.

==CAH==


	9. The Argument

Lilac had everything ready. She had arguments for her point, along with counters for whatever argument her mom would have. Her mom would have plenty of those, Lilac could only hope she had enough solutions for it.

She set up her presentation in front of the fireplace in the living room. She had a display board- a sandwich board that she had seen humans use for science fairs- along with notes. She had a pointer stick for emphasis gifted to her by Princess Twilight Sparkle. The bookish princess had aided Lilac in her research.

Her parents arrived first, just before the set gathering time. Lilac waited for them to sit down before handing over drinks. Hot cocoa for her mom- complete with cream, apple juice for her dad- no ice, just frozen juice cubes, he didn’t like it watered down with ice.

They accepted the drinks with grateful sighs. Both of her parents had argued with Dark Justice the night before. He hadn’t wanted to personalize his room beyond  _ ‘hotel room chic _ ’. Her parents had wanted it to feel more like a home than it was. Neither side went to bed easy. 

Thought as she finished a sip, Raspberry stared at her daughter with a calculating gaze. “Bribes? Smart.”

Thorax paused in his drinking. His eyes widened as he stared at his wife. She nodded, letting him finish.

Lilac nodded. “Learned from the best.” She complimented.

“Compliments won’t give you anything.” Raspberry cautioned.

Her daughter accepted the criticism.

Killjoy strolled in just after the deadline. Lilac held up a cup as her aunt settled into a cushioned chair.

“I want to point out, I made this from a bottle that she left behind when she moved.” Lilac warned. She showed her aunt the cup.

Killjoy took it, sipping at it. Her eyes widened. “You took my beer?”

“I already said I didn’t have any.” Lilac excused, when her parents gawked at her.

Killjoy barked out a laugh. “Bribes! I like it. Must be something bad if you gotta bribe us first.”

Lilac said nothing.

Raspberry narrowed her eyes.

“Mom. Dad. Auntie.” Lilac began. She grabbed her sandwich board, pressing a button she’d set up on the back. It played a familiar tune to the adults. “I have done the research. I know where you’re going. After this presentation, I hope you will be on my side.”

Raspberry sat up, understanding. “That’s the  _ Avengers _ theme.”

“Yeah!” Killjoy yelled, sitting up too. 

Lilac opened the board. It had pictures from the film glued on, along with documents to back her up. On the middle, presented as the title in purple letters was  _ ‘I want to talk to you about the Avengers Initiative’ _ . References would give her bonus points.

“No.” Raspberry argued, crossing her hooves over her chest.

“Mom-” Lilac reminded.

“No. You can’t come.” Raspberry declined.

“You promised you would hear me out. Are you going to break a promise to me?” Lilac reminded.

Raspberry gawked. Her brain had blue screened. Lilac was correct, which annoyed her deeply. What could she say in argument to  _ that _ ? She couldn’t break a promise to her child- it just wasn’t done.

The only reason Killjoy hesitated clapping for her niece was because she didn’t want to break her sister from the blue-screen curse she was under.

Thorax just drank his apple juice. 

Lilac pushed the button to turn off the theme song so she could begin her presentation. 

==CAH==

“Are you even listening?”

Raspberry turned to Twilight. “Huh?”

Twilight grunted in annoyance. “What do you think about the vampire fruit bats?”

“Whatever Fluttershy wants.” Raspberry brushed off.

“What?!” Applejack ranted.

“She’s an animal expert. If she has an idea, it’s good.” Raspberry told them.

“But the  _ bats _ -”

“I heard the song!” Raspberry dismissed angrily. “Quit trying to mess with-”

Thorax wrapped his wing over her back. “I...think that’s enough for now.” He pulled her a step back. “Sorry girls.”

“Is everything alright, Morgan?” Fluttershy asked. “You seem tense?”

Raspberry grimaced her face into a snarl. She turned away.

“Lilac asked to join us to where we go next.” Thorax revealed. “Starry’s worries because it’s the  _ Marvel _ universe. Things can go  _ very  _ wrong there.”

“You told Lilac, didn’t you?” Raspberry realized, glaring at Twilight.

Twilight blanched. “She asked! I thought she already knew, so it wouldn’t be an issue if I helped!”

“She’s always been crafty...just not like  _ this _ .” Raspberry noted.

“That don’t matter!” Applejack shouted at them. “These vampire bats  _ will ruin the farm _ !”

Raspberry huffed, stretching it out to an annoyed groan. Thorax patted her on the head in sympathy. 

==CAH==

“So?” Lilac asked.

Thorax looked to the adults, then said “I think you made a good case. Personally I think you can do it. If your mom thinks you’re ready, then I will too.”

Raspberry grimaced in distaste.

Lilac moved on to the next adult.

Killjoy shrugged. “We’ve trained you for a while. It’s a start. You’ll need to do a  _ lot  _ more to be ready for the human world alone. If you can beat  _ that _ , I’ll say yes.”

All of them turned to Raspberry. The leader of the team. The driver/owner of this magic school bus. 

She took a big calming breath. Sitting up, she gave Lilac a hard stare. Severus Snape would be proud of it. “Killjoy is right. You’ll need to train.”

Lilac stared.

“Hand to hand, and weapons training.” Raspberry explained. “I’ve shown you before how I was trained. You’ll know it too.”

“Yes Mom.” Lilac replied.

“I want you to learn to live on your own.” Raspberry commanded. Lilac gawked, along with Killjoy and Thorax. “Your aunt knew how by your age, and so did I. Your father- despite appearances- knows too. You’ve seen us in those circumstances. You’ll learn it yourself. You’ll father your own funds, use them to have a form of residence that would be accepted on a job application. Yes I want you to gain a job too. In that world, there’s a chance I won’t be able to watch over you like I do here. I want to know that if that happens, you can manage.”

“Yes Mom.” Lilac gave a nod. A hopeful feeling beginning to come over her.

“Next week, Thorax is going to Manehatten to run a conference for Changelings to adapt to Equestria in time for the Equestria Games. You’ll go with him with  _ one  _ bag of provisions- it would be cheating to give you my own, so I will just have to make one for you. One  _ much  _ smaller for a challenge. For the rest of our time in Equestria, you’re on your own.”

Lilac nodded, accepting the tasks. They were reasonable to her, given what she’d asked.

“Once a week, your aunt will come to you for weapons training. She’s not going to give you care packages, so don’t expect anything.” Raspberry informed. “I will come every two weeks for hand to hand. When you have a home, I’ll equip it with a training room where you can use the skills we’ve been teaching you. Your father is going to come once a month to be sure you’re not dead. Anytime you need to give in, either tell him on those days or send him a letter. But he warned, you give in that’s it. You’re not coming, not until you’re eighteen. No arguments.”

Lilac nodded. She took in all her mom said, committing it to memory. It was a lot- to be fair, Lilac was asking a lot. She asked early- early enough that her mom couldn’t have anything ironed down for the Plan. Lilac’s training would be enough. “Okay Mom.”

“Understood?” Raspberry asked one more time. “It’s 3 months alone. Only minimal visits to family, and written letters to your friends.”

Lilac nodded. She’d told the Crusaders about it already- saying she was joining her mom for a trip to get a chance at finding her special talent. They all knew about her Mom’s powers- as well as the rule that Mom wouldn’t bring along the Crusaders. Because them coming? Needed parental permission. No chance of  _ that  _ happening. 

“We’ll have to tell Celestia and Luna to keep Services off our back.” Thorax notes to his wife.

Raspberry agreed. She turned once more to Lilac. “You have one week to get your affairs in order. Then? You’re on your own until  _ Rainbow Rocks. _ ”

Lilac nodded again.

==CAH==

“Did you say yes because you think she’s ready, or because you don’t want her in town when  _ he _ comes?” Thorax asked.

Raspberry gave no reply.

==CAH==


	10. 1st Changeling Integration Meeting

Thorax beamed at his wife.

She beamed back.

“And I’ll call every chance I have-”

“-which is any time you’re not doing your actual job-”

“-I left plenty of food for you to eat, or to cook-”

“-except for the-”

“-nopony told me that there are so many types of sugar, how was I supposed to-”

“-it’s a lot more than two-”

“-no wonder-”

“Mom, Dad, the train?” Lilac prompted them.

Thorax and Raspberry turned to their first child. Lilac looked impatiently at them, then the train. Her parents blinked blankly. Lilac face clawed.

“Oh!” Raspberry turned to Thorax. “She wants us to be parental.”

Thorax took on a more serious expression. He turned to Lilac. “Did you want the Talk?”

“I  _ want to get on the train!” _ The dragon reminded them.

Raspberry laughed. She patted Thorax’s cheek, giving him one more beaming smile. When she turned to Lilac she was much more somber. She had a masterful poker face, an expression worthy of comparison with Celestia and Luna’s. There was something deeply troubling in her face. It made Lilac tense up, battle ready.

Before Lilac could ask anything there was a loud thump from the other side of the station. Lilac looked over.

Rarity stood with the rest of the Mane 6. Spike had just dropped in more luggage to the train.

“There you are, Rarity! That’s the last of your bags.” Spike cheered.

“Actually, Spike, I’ve got one last pile of bags, over there. Won’t you be a dear?” Rarity motioned to a larger pile of luggage.

“Sure... I’ll be a dear...” Spike went over to the bags.

Raspberry sighed. Thorax draped a wing over her side.

“An entire week in the fabulous city of Manehattan! Plus, all of my very best friends there with me!” Rarity cheered.

“Wow. Feeling the love, Rarity.” Raspberry snarked.

Rarity waved a hoof. “You know I love you too, darling. You’ll be supporting me in your own way!”

“You’ve learned.” Raspberry complimented.

“Of course those of us who could would come along to support you during Fashion Week, Rarity!” Twilight cheered.

“Not that you’ll need it. We’re sure you’ll win.” Fluttershy praised.

Rarity cheered loudly in delight. “I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am that you’ll all be there with me!” Rarity opened one of her suitcases. She pulled out multiple tickets. “However... Perhaps I can show you...”

“What’s that?” Twilight asked, confused.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh, I know! A paper fan!” Pinkie guessed. Raspberry laughed.

“No, it’s-” Rarity began.

“A magic trick! You know, where I pick a card and remember what it is and then you put it back in the deck so you can’t look at it and-” Pinkie babbled.

Rarity walked towards her friends, talking over Pinkie. “ _ These _ are tickets to the hottest musical on Bridleway!”

“You  _ couldn’t _ mean  _ Hinny of the Hills _ ... because that show’s been sold out for months!” Twilight stated. “ _ Or could you?!” _

“I could. I do.” Rarity replied with a smug smile.

Twilight gasps “Oh, Rarity, you didn’t have to do that, but... since you did...”

Main cast sans Rarity cheering

Pinkie “This trip is fun already! I  _ love _ jumping up and down! Whee-hee!” Pinkie cheered.

As the hug came to a close, Rarity turned to the Stardust family. “Are you sure you can’t come with?” She asked Raspberry and Lilac. “I have the two extra tickets.”

Raspberry nodded. “I need to help Cheerilee at the school, and help Dark Justice settle in. Besides that, Thorax-”

“I told her she couldn’t help me on this one.” Thorax stated. He wrapped a wing over Raspberry’s back. “This needs to be my thing. We agreed.”

“I know.” Raspberry held back a groan.

“And Lilac?” Rarity asked, turning to the dragon. “Are you sure you don’t want to help? It doesn’t fill me with delight knowing you’ll be all alone there.”

Lilac shook her head. “It’s fine. Mom and Auntie said it’s important for training. If I want to be a Traveller like them someday, I need to know the ropes.” Lilac glanced over to her mother. The alicorn’s face had gone blank. Yet if anyone looked close enough, they’d see Raspberry’s wing holding tightly to Thorax’s. “We made a deal. Right?”

Raspberry only gave a crisp nod.

The train whistle blew. Just in time, as Spike had just finished loading the bags onto a cart.

“That’s us!” Rarity cheered. “Come on everypony! Err, every _ one _ . We can’t delay!” She, and the rest of the Mane Cast followed her.

Lilac and her parents were left on the platform. The dragon turned to her parents. Thorax was giving Raspberry one last kiss on the head. Their wings detangled, allowing Thorax to walk to Lilac’s side. The alicorn was doing an impressive job hiding how she must feel.

Raspberry looked to her coltfriend and daughter. “You have your notebooks?”

“Yes.” Thorax and Lilac answered.

“Survival kit?” Raspberry asked with a glance at Lilac.

“Yes Mom.”

“Projector?” Raspberry asked Thorax.

“Yes Ma’am.”

Raspberry squinted at Lilac, thoughtful. “And your Bag?”

Lilac held tighter to the strap over her shoulders. Her mom had tricked out a simple saddlebag to be bigger on the inside. Lilac had no idea how hard her mother had worked to make it or how much power it cost- only that she shouldn’t treat this Bag poorly. “All packed.”

Raspberry gave one final nod. “Get going. If you make them miss the train, I’ll get mad.”

Lilac nodded. She started to walk towards the train.

Thorax sniffled.

“Dad.” Lilac prompted.

“Bee.” Raspberry prompted too.

Thorax sniffled again. “It’s just- you’re being so brave and I can  _ feel  _ your-”

Raspberry’s horn glowed gold. She pushed the two of them onto the train before anymore could be said.

==CAH==

During the train ride down, Thorax had gone over the notebooks  _ a lot _ . He had Twilight helping, obviously. She had even offered to help give the presentation but Thorax turned her down. This wasn’t something he felt comfortable bringing ponies into yet. He needed to build himself up for this lesson. A lesson that would go about helping his own  _ people _ assimilate to the culture of Equestria and maybe vice-versa.

It was hard enough watching Lilac sitting all by herself. The little dragon was growing up so fast...he could barely believe his eyes. He remembered meeting her. He remembered feeling her distrust of him, for ages she would barely give him anything, not until he’d proved himself to Lilac and her family. Now there she was. Taking her first ever journey by herself...

He wasn’t gonna cry.

He told himself he wasn’t gonna cry.

Killjoy always seemed to know when he cried- he’d be mocked about it specifically for ages.

Thorax couldn’t cry while his eldest was growing up. Nope. Couldn’t do it.

But after a long train ride- made longer only by Twilight going over his notes with him for an eighteenth time- they were in Manehattan.

“Come along, ponies! I found us a place to stay only a block from the train station in the very heart of this glorious metropolis!” Rarity called out.

“Actually.” Lilac spoke up. The group turned to her. Lilac could hardly stand it- her dad’s eyes were watering. “Mom has a place set up for me.” 

A lie.

Mom and Auntie had taught her how to do it right.

“Or, well, I helped Mom pick a place for me.” Lilac explained.

_ ‘Lies have unnecessary details. Don’t get caught up in them.’ _

_ ‘Give the bare bones of what’s needed. Enough to get them off your ass, but not enough that they can find you. And say it with confidence and ease. If you’re nervous, they’ll know you’re lying.’ _

Lilac kept their lessons in mind. “It’s a small space- I should really go before-”

“Yes, darling, whatever you need!” Rarity remarked. She gave Lilac a hug. It prompted everypony else in the group to hug her too.

Thorax managed to only cry a little bit.

Lilac didn’t cry. She was too excited. Here it was, her big chance. She’d gone on Travels with her mom before, but never did anything really big. Not to mention that when this went well she’d be allowed to join them on their next trip. She needed this to go well.

If that meant being away from home for a few months...Lilac was a tough dragon. She could do it.

Her family believed in her.

Lilac braced herself with that level of confidence. She went about finding herself a place to stay for the night. Her mom had told her some basic rules for living on the streets, including houses. Lilac had to find a good spot before somepony else claimed it.

==CAH==

There had been a song. Thorax expected it- hadn’t expected being included with it. That had been a whole other thing. Thorax couldn’t wait to explain that to the changelings- breaking out into song was sure to be a hit!

“To think my dresses could soon be displayed on the most glamorous shopping thoroughfare of the most glamorous city in Equestria!” Rarity cheered when the song came to a close. She and the others had been touring Manehattan. It was actually a great place- Thorax loved it. “Oh, it would be my dream come true!”

“Is there anything left to do we can help you with?” Twilight asked.

“Hm, nothing I can think of.” Rarity remarked. She smiled in delight. “The dresses are all completely finished, all made from a fabulous new fabric I’ve been developing for months. Stretchy, but not clingy. Shimmery, but not showy.”

“Sounds amazing.” Fluttershy praised.

Rarity “There’s nothing left for me to do but check in at the runway with my dresses by two this afternoon.” Rarity explained.

“Oh, that’s funny.” Pinkie mused. “Because that clock over there makes it seem like that’s only ten minutes from now!”

In the distance, Thorax heard thunder.

Rarity gasped in horror. “Oh, my ribbons and threads. And the runway ballroom is all the way across town! If I don’t get there, I’m disqualified!  _ Taaaaxiii!” _

“Oh, no! We’ve gotta help her find a cab, now!” Fluttershy gawked.

“I’m on it! Hey, buddy! Is this cab taken?” Dash asked a nearby cab.

“The line ends back there, ’buddy’!” The driver told them.

“Huh? What?” Looking over, there was a line two blocks long. “Does everypony in this town want a cab?” Dash huffed.

“I’m afraid getting a taxi at this time could prove almost impossible!” Rarity whined.

“Please won’t you let her have this taxi? She has somewhere very important to be right away!” Twilight asked another cab driver.

“Not likely! She can get in line like the rest of us!” A pony in line yelled. The others behind him joined in.

“Oh, it’s no use! The cab drivers just drive right past to get to the next pony in line!” Twilight explained.

Thorax found a taxi that had a broken wheel. The driver of it was fixing it up- so Thorax shoved Rarity that direction.

“New wheel works like a charm! So now which of you nice folks are hoppin’ in?” The driver cheered.

“Fashion runway plaza in seven minutes. Can you make it?” Rarity prompted.

“Hang on!” The driver agreed. He rushed off into the distance.

“Ta-ta!” Rarity waved goodbye.

“Whew, that was close.” Spike relieved.

Thorax yelped.

“What?” Spike asked.

“The dresses!” Thorax explained.

Everypony yelped. “The dresses!”

In the midst of panic, the lot of them went back to their hotel to collect the dresses. As it turned out the bellhop who had taken their luggage earlier was there- he was more than happy to take the dresses to Rarity.

It was in her hooves now. Raspberry had told Thorax that there wasn’t much to be done, only to accept Rarity’s request for help when it came.

==CAH==

It was time now.

Thorax settled the last bits of the presentation. There had been a food table set up with new foods that Queen Thorne had said the changelings liked, along with a few that Thorax had found on his own. Human food had strong spices he was sure at least some changelings would like. 

It was getting close to 2:30. They’d set the first meeting for 3pm at a meeting hall in their hotel. Raspberry had worked that out with Queen Thorne and the Princesses. After Rarity had left for her fashion prep, Thorax and Twilight started working on the last details he needed for the presentation.

He had almost asked her along for the presentation itself. The only thing stopping him was a hesitant awkwardness. This meeting would be great for changelings- but Thorax thought it would be a better idea if they started off small. Having the meeting in a city full of ponies was already a big step forward. Maybe the next one? 

He’d also not wanted to take away from their fun plans for the trip. Messing up Twilight’s schedule was a big no-no. Thorax needed to do this thing himself. He’d led missions before with much bigger stakes than the intregration of his own people. Nothing to stress over.

_ Maybe he should check that the projector would work again- _

When Thorax went to check the device, somepony knocked on doors to the hall. He turned to them. 

“C-Come in!” He called out.

The door squeaked open. A changeling poked their head in. Their carapace was a bright blue now. “Is- is this the meeting for Changeling Integration?”

“Yes!” Thorax replied only stuttering a little bit. That’s a win in his book. “Come on in. Feel free to have the snacks!”

The changeling glanced to the food table. After a hesitant moment the changeling walked over.

Thorax took a quick breath. He could do this. He could definitely do this.

As the 3pm start time loomed closer, more changelings arrived. Many of them looking happy, in groups. All with bright neon colors on their transformed carapaces. A few of them were more closed off, coming in alone with their heads down. There were even a few Thorax recognized from the Hive. Queen Thorne warned him about them. They were the kind of changelings that could use the power of friendship! Altogether there was about thirty changelings.

No pressure here.

The clock chimed at 5. Thorax glanced to the clock to confirm. He beamed with a fake pride.  _ Fake it til you make it _ , Killjoy had said.

“Uh. Alright everyling!” Thorax called out. He flew over to the front of the room to his materials. “Time to get started.”

_ ‘Remember, hun, be assertive.’ _

_ ‘I know to be assertive! I’ve been plenty assertive!’ _

_ ‘Name one time.’ Killjoy had challenged at the time. _

_ ‘I kicked an alien in the face!’ _

_ ‘Okay that was pretty assertive...you’re gonna rock it, babe.’ _

_ ‘Totally babe.’ _

“Come take your seats!” Thorax invited.

The changelings all flew into chairs. Thorax used his magic to close the doors. 

Thorax nervously chuckled. “Welcome to the first ever Changeling-Equestria Integration meeting! I’m here to get you guys used to Equestrian ponies. This is going to help anyling who wanted to compete in or attend the Equestria Games.”

He looked at one of the notes. There had been a lot of points he’d wanted to make. Raspberry had helped a lot in that.

“Our entire lives, we were told to watch ponies do we could hunt them. Now you’re being asked to befriend them, to  _ not  _ hunt and steal their love.” Thorax explained. “That’s a tough thing to do, so I figured we’d start out small. There’s a thing called a  _ Feelings Forum-” _

The doors swung open. The Changelings all looked back to see what was there.

A Changeling stood in the doorway- obviously. He was untransformed- in the black carapace normal to the old regime. His wings were a dark purple, along with his compound eyes. His back had red on it rather than usual Changeling green, and his neck-chitin resembled a red mohawk.

Thorne had warned him he was coming. Thirst had started to think he’d ditched. That didn’t make it any better seeing him there.

Pharynx.

==CAH==

He walked into the hotel room two hours later, sighing. The room was empty- a fact he was grateful for. He flopped down on the bed. They’d gotten two rooms, this one Thorax was sharing with Spike, Dash, and Applejack. The door connecting the two rooms was open for ease of transition.

He pulled his phone out from his travel bag. He saw a message from Raspberry that was a gif of Ron Burgundy saying he was a big deal. 

Thorax let the phone drop on the bed. He slumped down beside it, just staring up at the ceiling.

It had become a real mess after Pharynx arrived. Few of the other changelings wanted to share in the Feeling Forum. Every time they started to try Pharynx would make a loud scoffing noise at them. Thorax had understood everyone having their own opinion, but he’d learned you could do that without being rude. Pharynx had yet to learn that skill.

This was why Thorax never accepted-

There was loud laughter from the next room. Thorax sat up.

“Oh, my gosh, what a great afternoon! That was almost too much fun!” Twilight cheered.

Thorax got up off the bed, tucking the phone back into his bag. He peeked into the next room to see the mares and Spike happily walking into the room.

“Better pace yourself, ’cause the rest of the day is jam-packed!” Dash told Twilight.

“First there’s the salon appointment to get our manes done.” Applejack reminded with a toss of her mane.

“Then our fancy dinner at the Far-Afield Tavern!” Pinkie reminded.

“And after that-” Fluttershy began.

“ _ Hinny of the Hills _ !” They all cheered.

Thorax walked into the room. The mares were all laughing. Spike noticed Thorax first. 

“Hey Thorax!” Spike greeted. “How did the meeting go?”

Thorax drooped. “Not well. It started when-”

The door slammed open. Rarity walked in. Her mane was frizzy, and her cheeks were coated in tears. Spike gave the unicorn his full attention now.

“-yeah, yeah that fits.” Thorax noted.

“Is... everything okay?” Dash asked Rarity.

“You got the dresses the bellhop brought you and everything, right?” Pinkie asked.

Rarity burst out in tears. Loud, wailing tears. Thorax was surprised she hadn’t summoned her fainting couch.

“But he said he brought them.” Dash noted.

Rarity threw herself on the bed. Ah, that explains the lack of fainting couch. “And then Suri  _ stole _ them! I let one of the other contestants use some of my one-of-a-kind fabric and then she turned it into a wardrobe just like mine, only now it looks like  _ I’m _ the one copying  _ her _ ! My generosity has ruined me, I tell you!  _ Ruined _ !”

Thorax really wished he had watched the show with Raspberry. Maybe any of this would make sense. He could feel the heavy emotions pouring off her. She wasn’t doing anything to hide it. While he could usually handle strong feelings this was on a whole different level. If he still fed off love, this might actually have made him sick.

“Now, Rarity, whatever went wrong, we’re all here to help you get through it, no matter what it takes.” Twilight assured. The other mares and Spike agreed.

“Come on, Rarity, buck up! All we need is some fabric and you’ll be back in business!” Applejack prompted.

Rarity seemed to perk up instantly. Thorax was grateful. He was starting to get a sympathy sickness from the days of old. She held up the bedspread she’d jumped onto. “This new line is going to be marvelous! Perhaps even better than the last! It’s daring, it’s bold! Perhaps I still have a chance after all!”

Thorax sneakily snuck back into his room. He pulled the phone out, shifting himself into a flamingo so he could type. 

Yes he knew there were other options.

He just liked this one right now.

Quit judging.

Thorax replied with a gif of a cat in sunglasses.

The screen immediately lit up for a phone call. Thorax shut the adjoining door to the hotel rooms before answering. He changed into his normal form as he settled down on the ground.

Her human face filled up the screen. She was standing over the stove, her phone floating beside her. _ “Hey honey. How’d it go?” _

“Did you not see the gif?” Thorax asked, dodging the question.

She smiled, giving a small laugh. _ “I did. The cat was cute. But that was obviously a reply to my gif, not about your day. How did it go?” _ She repeated. Her tone was cheery and light but Thorax was smarter than to assume.

Thorax gave a nervous smile. “Tell me about your day first.”

She gave him a flat stare over the screen.

Thorax kept up his smile.

With a cautious look, Morgan went back to the meal she was cooking.  _ “Dynamite and Cookie decided to spend the day going over with the Crusaders to see what Dynamite’s done for her cutiemark so they can see what’s left. Killjoy was working most of the day- and I mean really working, as far as I know she wasn’t having sex or doing murder.” _

Thorax chuckled. “Doing murder.”

_ “Not what you expected me to say?” _

“No it is- just...that’s a normal phrase for me to hear now.” Thorax laughed.

Morgan did too. Her expression sobered fast _. “Dark Justice was a bit more of a struggle. He’s still settling, you know? He’s been in his room all day. He didn’t want to go with the Crusaders. Not that I blame him, it’s a girl-club. The only colts in town are Snips and Snails, not exactly shining examples here. Were you assertive?” _

Thorax had to blink at that. “What?”

_ “Were you assertive with them?” _ Morgan repeated. She took off the dish she was cooking, moving it to the counter top. She went about getting the rest of the meal together. _ “The changeling meeting.” _

“Ah.”

_ “Avoiding my answer only makes it worse.” _ Morgan sing-songed.

Thorax winced. “I know.”

_ “Then answer me, Thorax.” _

Thorax gulped. “It started off really well...” He began. Morgan stopped her preparations. She grabbed the phone from her magical hold, staring into the lense so he could look her in the eyes. “I had the notebooks, and notecards all laid out. The other changelings liked the food, even the human food. A bunch of them even liked the ideas I had for integration!”

Morgan spoke in a quiet voice, careful and caring.  _ “You did a good job on that. I’m really proud you did it. What happened next?” _

“Pharynx.” Thorax answered. He was actually clenching his teeth now.

Morgan looked surprised at the shift in tone.  _ “One of the troubled changelings Thorne warned about?” _

“Yes. And he’s gotten worse!” Thorax hissed. “He was head guard back when we needed one of those! Which we don’t anymore but he doesn’t get it!”

He ended up explaining it all to her, in an info dump. He explained the entire two hour meeting with Pharynx’s interruptions. Pharynx constantly dismissing the ideas or disregarding them. Him putting down other changelings. Him going on and on about the old way, how they were becoming weak by taking pony ideas. Thorax explained every annoying thing the changeling had done. 

The entire time Morgan listened. She went about finishing dinner for the family, but kept listening. She made comments at appropriate times to prove it. Thorax appreciated having somebody listen to him after the clusterfuck the meeting had been.

_ “What’s the emotional connection?” _ Morgan asked.

Thorax hesitated. “The what?”

_ “I mean...you’re saying all this stuff he did today...but your tone when you introduced him said you knew him before today.” _ Morgan explained. Thorax didn’t say anything.  _ “Honey. How’d you meet Pharynx?” _

Thorax waited a long while before answering. “He was my elder broodmate.”

To her credit, Morgan only looked mildly shocked.

“He wants to be my brother.” Thorax revealed.

A bit more than mildly now...yet still she kept listening.  _ “Wow.” _

“Yeah.” Thorax moved over to the bed. He laid himself down, propping the phone up on a lamp. He groaned in aggravation.

He had explained to Morgan how changeling familial connections were made. It had been the only way to explain their marriage connection. The changelings live in a big hive, they couldn’t all call each other brothers and sisters it would get annoying. The bond only worked when both sides consented to the connection. Until then they were just hive-mates.

_ “What makes you say no?” _ Morgan asked him, conversationally.

Thorax scoffed. “Uh, my entire life? He always bullied me. He made me hit myself.  _ All the time! _ Cicada would always-” Thorax choked on his words.

Morgan paused in her dinner preparations. She looked at the phone in hesitant fear. 

Thorax let out a shaking breath. “Cicada would always try to stop him. He’d just end up bullying us both. I had to get between them a lot to keep him from bullying her. It’s actually why I agreed to be her brother. Cicada didn’t hesitate to agree, she was excited. That only made Pharynx angrier. He bullied us more often. There was just never...a good reason.”

It hurt to remember these things. Ever since Logan had taken Cicada, there hadn’t been a lot of good memories to look back on. He could remember when he realized she’d been taken. When he realized his little sister was in Logan’s clutches. Thorax was never angrier than in that moment.

Morgan understood how he felt. She finished the meal, beginning to clean up the dishes she’d used to cook.

“He asked again.” Thorax admitted. “When the meeting was over, I was putting everything away. He walked up to ask me if I would accept the connection.”

_ “And what did you say?” _ Morgan asked.

“Nothing!” Thorax answered, like there was any other answer. “He acts rude during my presentation that I worked really hard on, and he thought I was going to say yes?! No way!”

_ “So you didn’t answer him. _ ”

“No!”

_ “So you didn’t tell him no.” _

Thorax hesitated on his answer. “Wait-” He sat up on the bed to look at the phone.

_ “Which means-” _

“I didn’t tell him yes either!” Thorax warned.

Morgan only hummed, like she  _ ‘got it’ _ .  _ “You just left him there. Without an answer.” _

Thorax did not like where this was going.

_ “Okay.” _ Morgan shrugged. She left the various dishes in the sink to soak. She got out plates. _ “He sounds like a violent asshole.” _

“He is!” Thorax argued. He could still feel his own slaps on his face from when Pharynx made him hit himself.

_ “Bet he was a real bastard about your attention. Would never really let you have a moment’s peace.” _

“He didn’t!” Thorax agreed.

_ “Did he try to drag you into the violent stuff? The stuff you would never drag Cicada into cause she was just, ya know-” _

“Too young and gentle for that kind of stuff! Yes!” Thorax relaxed against the bed again. “You get it.”

Silence.

“You...really get it.”

More silence. A knowing look over the phone.

Thorax pushed his face into the pillow. “Queen  _ dammit _ ...you get it.”

_ “Killjoy was like that at first.” _ Morgan recalled. A fond tone to her voice that made Thorax’s heart ache.  _ “She was trying so hard to get close to me, that first week. I turned her away so many times. She was an annoying brat. The baby of the family, by hell did she live up to it. Looking back, I’m not surprised she turned into a sociopath. She was like that from the start.” _

“Pharynx isn’t Killjoy.” Thorax argued.

Morgan snorted.  _ “No. Killjoy likes knives. Though from what I’m hearing I doubt it would take long for Pharynx to start-” _

“Don’t do that!” Thorax snapped. Morgan silenced, looking at the phone in surprise. “Don’t say his name! Cause- cause then it sounds like you’ve already brought him into the family! That’s not- that’s not how it works! That’s not a decision you get to make. That’s my choice and I say no! He’s not going to be a part of this family! He won’t be my brother! _ Never! _ ”

Morgan kept staring at the phone. The shock on her face was infectious. Thorax’s own face fell when he realized what he’d done.

“Sorry Starry...I didn’t mean to shout.” He apologized.

Morgan nodded, stunned.  _ “I know you didn’t.” _

“He just makes me so mad.”

_ “I understand.” _ And she did. She had a sibling who often made her want to pull out her own hair- sometimes making her do something she later regret.

Thorax felt worse. He pushed his face into the pillow again.

There was a long tense silence. The only noises in the room came from the outsides. The buzzing of a sewing machine, the movement of hooves, Rarity’s instructions to them all, the sink running beside Morgan.

_ “The kids need dinner.” _ Morgan stated after a long silence.

Thorax nodded, face still in the pillow.

_ “You need to answer him.” _

Thorax said nothing.

_ “I only ever made peace with Killjoy when I talked to her. When I told her what I had to say, how I felt. I don’t care if you tell him no, or yes. That’s up to you. Just tell him why you’re pushing him away. Who knows? Maybe he’ll listen.” _

Thorax said nothing.

_ “I love you.” _ Morgan reminded him.

“I love you so much.” Thorax replied. It was only slightly muffled by the pillow.

_ “Call me later?” _

“Yeah, babe. Sure.” Thorax mumbled.

She hung up the phone.

Thorax groaned into the pillow. He knew his wife was right. Even if he hated when that meant he had to do now. She was right though. And he wouldn’t feel at peace until he did this.

==CAH==

All the changelings were staying in a nearby hotel. Queen Thorne had organized that with the princesses again. The meetings would be over two days- so tomorrow they would meet and talk for another afternoon before they went back to the Hive. They did this so Thorax could attend the fashion show and the afterwards- that had been insisted by Raspberry.

So Thorax knew which room was Pharynx’s.

He had a room to himself. Noling else wanted to bunk with him.

Thorax knocked on the hotel room door. He had managed to sneak out without being dragged into Rarity’s impromptu sweatshop. 

No answer.

Thorax braced himself. “It’s me.”

More silence.

Thorax knew a weaker changeling would’ve taken that as a cue to leave. But he had to at least try. Well...try more than just knocking.

He heard the locks twisting on the other side of the door. Thorax braced himself again for a confrontation. The door swung open for Pharynx.

The changeling stared at Thorax, trying to appear nonchalant. Thorax showed more hesitation for this exchange.

“So.” Pharynx began. Thorax was already annoyed all over again. Even barely talking, Pharynx’s voice sounded like a military general who knew better. Thorax didn’t like that one bit. “Had something to say?”

“Y-Yes.” Thorax replied. He called back what he’d said to Morgan, remembered the emotions he had felt. He needed them. He hadn’t rehearsed it on notecards or had it written in a notebook. This had to come from him. “You should apologize.”

“Huh? Me? Apologize? For  _ what _ ?” Pharynx countered.

“For being rude at the meeting.” Thorax stated.

“Pfft. Whatever.” Pharynx walked back, about to close the door.

Thorax used his magic to hold the door open. “No. You’re going to hear what I have to say. If you _ really _ want to be my brother, then this is how it starts.”

There was a long silence after that. Pharynx glared at Thorax, seeming to test if Thorax meant it. Thorax glared right back. He could do this. He was already doing this- as long as nothing caught fire it would be fine.

Pharynx took a step back. “Fine.” He walked into his hotel room.

Thorax followed him in. He closed the door behind him.

Pharynx walked over to a chair. He sat in it, crossing his hooves over his chest. He glared silently at Thorax.

Thorax stared silently back.

The changeling huffed. “Well? Go ahead. Since you’re so eager to have a  _ ‘feeling circle’-” _

“Feeling Forum.” Thorax corrected. Pharynx waved it off. “See? It’s that. You’re always mean to me. All the time.”

“To toughen you up! Changelings walk all over you all the time!” Pharynx argued.

“What, like you do?” Thorax countered.

“Yeah!” Pharynx agreed.

Thorax rolled his eyes. 

“The ponies are making the Hive weak. None of them patrol or hunt anymore!” Pharynx ranted.

“Why would they?” Thorax questioned. “There’s no need for it. We don’t need to steal love. We can share it.”

Pharynx sneered. “I’ve seen how you  _ share _ that love.” He shivered, disgusted.

“What?” Thorax asked, confused and not sure if he should be offended or not. “What do you mean by  _ that _ ?”

“I knew you were always weak. I never imagined you would side with  _ her _ .” Pharynx stated. “The Great Betrayer. And those _ things  _ of her’s.”

Thorax clenched his teeth.

“I was the one assigned to take in her brats in Queen Chrysalis’ invasion-”

Now, let it be clear. Thorax knew the incident-to him- happened over eight years ago. He knew it was less then five years for the girls.

But he would never forget how scared he was when Morgan had told him about the girls. How he held that fear until he saw them again, hours later. He remembered how tightly they held to Morgan and him, when it got dark outside. Cookie told Thorax she’d been scared by the  _ bug ponies that came to take her away _ .

And he was furious to hear them be called  _ brats _ .

Long story short, he was completely justified when he changed into a bear then punched Pharynx in the face.

The former Head Guard for the Hive fell to the ground. He’d been as surprised by the punch as Morgan would be when Thorax told her two days later.

Thorax was  _ seething. _ He changed back into his green carapace form, snarling at Pharynx. 

The former Head Guard flinched back. His purple eyes stuck on Thorax. 

“You don’t get to talk about my family like that!” Thorax hissed. “You never liked Cicada. You were mean to us all the time! I let you push me around for so long because as long as you were kicking at me or making me hit myself you weren’t doing it to her! And now that she’s gone- what- you think you have a chance? At being a family? Well you’re being a real shit about it!” Thorax ranted, barely taking a breath. Pharynx stared, gobsmacked. “ _ I’m not letting you do the same to my family! _ You don’t call my kids  _ ‘things’ _ or _ ‘brats’ _ \- all four of them are perfect and I love them so  _ shut up! _ ”

Thorax had to take a breath for this next bit. He’d worked up to it, you see. “And you especially don’t get to say anything about  _ my wife _ !” He went in for another punch. He didn’t change this time. So it was a perfectly normal changeling hoof punching classic changeling chitton.

There was actually a thud when Pharynx hit the floor. He was so surprised that Thorax- _ Thorax _ , who was such a wimp he’d get hurt punching himself- had punched him

And it  _ hurt _ .

“Raspberry Stardust is a better creature than you’ll ever be, and I’ve loved her since I met her.” Thorax kept on. “And if you really wanted to be my brother you would respect that.”

So Thorax left Pharynx behind. For the first time, he had no regrets about it.

For the first time ever, Pharynx did.

==CAH==

If Thorax went out to confirm that Lilac was alright, he doubted Raspberry would blame him.

==CAH==

_ “And I’m a dancing pony!” _ The performer sang.

The Mane 6, Spike, Thorax, and a whole bunch of changelings applauded as the curtain closed.

After the fight, not much happened from Thorax’s perspective. The mares had been working on new dresses for Rarity all night. They’d missed their performance of Henny of the Hills. Thorax had fallen straight to sleep- not waking up until the mares came to get him in a panic.

They’d missed Rarity’s fashion show. Instead of angry, Rarity was apologetic. She apologized for how rude she had been about the dresses. Even when Suri- who Thorax could just  _ guess _ wasn’t a good pony- said that Rarity had lost, Rarity took it in stride. She invited her friends to an exclusive show of  _ Henny of the Hills. _ More than that, Rarity said that she could bring in any of the changelings that wanted to experience it.

A lot of the changelings agreed when Thorax sent out letters to ask. Apparently there had been a lot of buzz about it since their hotel was so close to the theatre.

Thorax was happy. He hadn’t expected to introduce them to Equestria culture like this! What an awesome thing. And the actors didn’t even scream! Double bonus!

“Wow! That was even better than I imagined!” Applejack praised.

“I  _ loved _ it!” Dash cheered, flying about above their heads in cheer. She stopped when she realized her own enthusiasm. “Uh, I mean, it was a’ight.”

Thorax waved goodbye to the changelings. They were all fluttering as they exited the theatre. Many were talking about coming back to Manehattan again- not just for the next meeting. Thorax beamed in pride.

“How did you ever get them to agree to do an extra performance just for us?” Twilight asked Rarity.

“Remember my costume designer friend who got me the tickets?” Everyone nodded. “Well, I offered to make all the costumes for his next show!”

“Um, here in Manehattan?” Fluttershy reasoned.

“Well, um... yes... it will keep me away from Ponyville for a while.” Rarity admitted. Her friends were quiet at the revelation. “But I so wanted you to see this show! And working for this designer is such a great opportunity!”

“We know. We’re happy for you, Rarity. We’re just sad for us.” Applejack explained, pouting.

The doors to the theatre room opened. The group looked back to it. Coco Pommel- intern to Suri- was walking in. “Mind if I join you?” She asked

“Sure. Come on down.” Rarity offered, confused.

The pale yellow earth pony walked down. She walked up to Rarity, pulling out an object from her saddlebag,

“This is the first place trophy for Fashion Week.” Rarity realized. She gasped. “With my name on it! But I thought I lost!”

“You didn’t. You won.” Coco revealed. “Suri was hoping that if you didn’t claim your prize, the judges would consider it a forfeit and first place would go to her. So she lied to make you and your friends go away, and, well, I lied too.”

The ponies all walked towards Coco. They listened to their story, wondering what it meant about their friend.

“I’ve worked for Suri for so long, I started to believe that it really is everypony for herself in this town. Until I saw how generous you were with your friends and how generous  _ they _ were with  _ you _ . It made me start believing there was something better for me out there. So, I– I quit.” Coco explained. She reached into her saddlebag, pulling out another object. “I brought you something to say thank you.”

It was a spool of thread. But not just one color, this was clearly rainbow thread. Thorax thought he saw it shine with a magic rainbow for a moment. Clearly it was just a trick of light.

“Hm. I suppose you’ll need a job now that you’re no longer with Suri.” Rarity hummed. She smiled brightly. “How would you like to work for my friend making all the costumes for his next show?”

Coco couldn’t say yes fast enough.

==CAH==

Morgan blinked at him.

Thorax winced, feeling embarrassed and awkward.

Morgan blinked again. Her jaw was starting to drop. Her eyes widening as what he explained was coming to her.

He groaned, letting his head flop down on her shoulder. “Please don’t-”

“You John Mulaney’d me.” Morgan spoke.

“...what?”

“You punched a man while shouting ‘ _ that’s my wife’ _ .” Morgan clarified with a wide smile. “Holy shit you really love me.”

Thorax flushed. “Uh...babe we’re married.”

“Yeah but now it’s- like- obvious.”

Thorax shifted into a cat. He curled against Morgan’s side. The human giggled at the fur on her neck. She reached a hand up to pet him. Thorax mewled. Her hand stayed brushing his fur for a long while. 

Neither of them talked about Lilac, up in Manehattan all alone.

Neither of them talked about Pharynx, returning to the Hive with a lot on his mind.

Neither of them talked about the fight they’d had the other night. 

They just existed in the moment- letting it slide by in a reassuring silence.

They would worry about all of those things later.


	11. All Ya Gotta Do Is Say It

Luna slipped into the dream. “Morgan?” She called out.

Thunder struck in the distance.

Luna flinched back in surprise. She couldn’t see any lightning or something to that effect. The only thing around was a large decrepit looking mansion. Mansion, yes, for this was no castle.

She looked down at herself. She was wearing a tan blazer with a white button up blouse. Around her neck were two pearl necklaces, dangling off her chest with the angle of them. She could feel more than see the earrings- pearl also if Luna had to guess. She quite liked the outfit. It was much better than many of the other outfits she had worn over the years in Morgan’s dreams. Even her mane was relatively left alone- just back in a bun behind her head.

Though she could’ve done without the slit carved into her neck. Lucky the neckline of the blouse covered it up.

“Morgan?” She called out again.

Again, thunder struck. This time sounded much closer.

Now Luna had suspicions. She went off towards the mansion. The mansion was surrounded by thunder clouds, with lightning in the clouds. Clearly the elements of nature had their fun with the place. If Luna really thought about it, she’d say it looked like  _ Castle of the Two Sisters _ if it had been made of wood rather than stone. All in all, not a great looking place. 

“Where are you, Morgan?” Luna called out. She flew to the house. The doors opened for her, slamming against the walls. “Morgan!”

Luna was getting annoyed by the thunder at this point.

“Morgan will you shut this-”

One more loud crack of thunder. This one boomed louder than the other’s- harsher than it would have should a pegasus had kicked it. This was clearly the work of magic.

Luna was not startled. Nope, nu-uh. That scream had come from somewhere else in the dream. Yes, that’s the only explanation.

“Was that you screaming just then?” Morgan’s voice asked, snickering.

Luna turned to it. Sure enough, in the next room she spotted a figure. She walked inside. On a long gray couch Luna saw her- funny enough, the cleanest thing in this place, without any sign of decay or the elements. Morgan was dressed in a black pinstripe pantsuit. Under the jacket, was a white shirt with thick black horizontal stripes. Her black hair was in a curled mess behind her head. She had tried to contain it under a top hat covered in neon green fur.

Yet, Morgan herself was relatively unchanged. Her human skin was tan. Her eyes were golden amber. “Zup.”

“Where have you been? I was calling for you.” Luna requested. She walked towards a chair that had been conjured for her.

“You had to say my name three times.” Morgan replied easily.

“I said it five!” Luna countered.

“Yeah, but you broke the line. You’ve gotta say it three times in a row- unbroken.” Morgan explained. She spoke in a bored tone, as if she’d been explaining this concept before and it was actually annoying her to repeat it. “Geez maybe I need to integrate _ all of you _ to pop culture. This is actually sad.”

Luna narrowed her eyes. 

“So. How was  _ your _ week, Luna the Caseworker?” Morgan inquired.

==CAH==

For hours, Luna spoke to Morgan how her week had gone. There had been nightmares for ponies near the north. A few troubled souls that needed guiding towards their true paths. Morgan enjoyed hearing the dreams themselves, the paths of truth seen through. She was smart enough not to ask for the names of the ponies in trouble.

They spoke of Morgan’s children. Things were much more relaxed than the last time they had spoken. According to Morgan, Dynamite was finally being allowed back inside Twilight’s library (the filly had nearly set off a homemade firework from her saddlebag two weeks ago). There was an added stipulation that Dynamite be checked for explosives at the door. Twilight was used to fire-users and safety features. Cookie was enjoying her time with the Crusaders, finding new ways to ‘gain Cutiemarks’. Dark Justice was...well he was still causing strife. He hadn’t warmed up to anypony in the house, he’d only stopped glaring at them. He glared at everypony else though. 

When Luna asked of Lilac, Morgan’s expression went tight. The dressed up human spoke in a cold voice, sounding more general than Luna’s friend. All she confirmed about that dragon was that Lilac was well. 

Things became tense when Luna brought up  _ Thorax. _

Morgan’s face didn’t have the light delight of talking about her children.

It didn’t have the old exhaustion when talking about Darcy.

It was just...Luna had not often seen this look on her friend. Her eyes were soft, looking off in the storming distance. She sagged deeper against the couch. While the world had existed in muted colors, Luna could sense that those colors went even more muted.

Morgan looked  _ lost _ .

“Morgan?” Luna asked.

The human moved the green furry hat. It rested over her face now. “I told you to be careful with the name thing.” She corrected in a flat monotone. As though all the delight in this disguise had fled her.

“Three times to summon you, three to send you away.” Luna repeated.

The rules of dreams were subjective- dependent completely on the whims of the dreamer’s subconscious. Morgan had fiercer control of that part of herself when she slept. A woman who had so many rules for herself and others in the waking world, it was no surprise that she had the same control.

Always a control freak...even in sleep.

“Tell me what is troubling you.” Luna requested.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Morgan dismissed. Her voice in the same deflated state.

“The storm brewing in the distance says otherwise.” Luna countered.

As if her own brain worked against her, thunder struck in the distance.

Morgan curled up on the couch. She continued to hide under the hat.

Luna considered various things that could be causing this. She knew Morgan gave to stress very easily. It could be anything, from work to family to the safety of others. Morgan tend to be set off by the smallest things not going to plan, yet when giant things went wrong she took it in stride.

“If I wanted a therapy session, I would get a therapist.” Morgan mumbled.

Luna tilted her head. “You don’t have one already? Weren’t you appointed-”

Morgan waved her hand. 

Ah. She had dismissed the therapist already. Not surprising. “Why? You of all ponies should know the importance of-”

She huffed. She turned away from Luna again. Literally the entire couch flipped away from Luna’s sight.

“The therapist just wanted to talk about my kids. About how I got together with Thorax. Everything Mr and Mrs S already complain about.” Morgan admitted. Still in a dispassionate voice. If anything, this explanation only made it more pronounced. “If I wanted to hear the complaints, I would’ve gone home. And that was years ago. I’ve let it go.”

_ ‘Clearly. _ ’ Luna kept that thought to herself. “How is Thorax?” Luna repeated.

The world darkened further. It was as if Morgan had a dial about how dark her world could become. On a 1-10 scale, Luna marked this as changing from a  _ ‘5’  _ to a  _ ‘6’ _ .

“You need not tell me.” Luna offered. “I can see it’s a troubling topic.”

The world brightened back to a _ ‘5’ _ .

“You haven’t spoken with Thorax about whatever is troubling you.” Luna noted. “If it were about your work in protecting the future of Equestria, no doubt you would have spoken to Twilight on this. You have already spoken of your children so it’s not them either.”

The world held it’s condition at a  _ ‘5’ _ .

“You must tell Thorax this.” Luna told her.

“Why should I?” Morgan questioned flatly.

“Because, you want him here.” Luna countered.

Morgan scoffed in disagreement.

“If you didn’t, then would I not be somepony else?” Luna gestured to her outfit. “This costume is much too tame compared to your own, or to the land around us.”

She said nothing.

“He is this persona’s costar, I take it?” Luna pressed on.

Luna heard him arrive before she saw him. The sound came as glittering sparkles, the way snow landed in the cartoons Morgan had made them watch. Turning back, she could finally see Thorax. Or at least Morgan’s Dream-Thorax.

He was in his natural form. The neon green coat and neon orange horns should by all logic clash with the cherry red dress. Thorax walked up to Luna’s side, looking towards Morgan on the couch.

“Morgan.” Dream-Thorax spoke.

Nothing.

“Morgan. Morgan.” Dream-Thorax repeated.

More thunder, so much it shook the house. Luna blasted a plank of wood falling towards her head.

There was a puff of smoke from the couch. Morgan was sitting on it. The couch was once again facing Luna and now Dream-Thorax. Morgan stared at Thorax. She said nothing about the garment he wore. Luna had the errant thought that Morgan had seen him in stranger clothes.

“You see him, Morgan?” Luna asked.

Morgan said nothing.

“Is he the type of pony that would cast you aside by this issue?”

Morgan’s face twitched into a grimace for the smallest of seconds.

Thorax beamed.

“Then you know what you must do.” Luna told her.

The dream ended. Luna found herself coasting between dreams, searching for another lost pony to help.

She hoped Morgan would be alright.

==CAH==

The sun was beginning to rise.

Thorax woke up. He glanced over in the bed. Morgan was on her side in her human body, curled under the blanket still. He sat up to kiss her head before crawling out of bed. The usual morning routine already playing itself out-

Why was the door locked?

Thorax tried again to open the door.

Again, the door stayed shut.

He tried using his magic. 

A wall of golden magic blocked him from the door.

Thorax looked to their bed. Sure enough there was a golden glow coming off Morgan’s hand. So she was awake then?

“Babe. Why can’t I open the door?” Thorax asked.

Morgan mumbled something.

“What?”

“I said _ ‘could you get back over here’ _ .” Morgan grumbled, louder than before.

Thorax was not so stupid as to ask again. He went back to the bed. He crawled onto his side, nestling closer to Morgan. The glow on her hand faded. “So...did Luna say anything?”

It was Wednesday. Thorax knew Morgan would’ve spoken with Luna. His best guess was that something happened. She’d been acting distant the past few days. Thorax was feeling nervous himself, about the whole thing. He knew Morgan worked out her problems inside so he didn’t push- she’d could to him when she was ready to say a solution.

Apparently Luna had different ideas.

“Where’s your head at, babe?” Thorax asked.

Morgan was quiet.

Thorax waited.

She turned in the bed, facing him. She had her lip in her teeth, worrying the skin to the point Thorax was surprised it hadn’t broke. She had her arms clutched to her chest, holding herself.

Thorax didn’t even want to ask, knowing the answer he’d hear would be the same as always. He would ask a question. She would say nothing was wrong. He would double-check. She would say it was fine. Then she’d kiss his head and send him on his way.

“I am feeling...sad.” Morgan admitted.

To Thorax, it was like hearing Spock express emotions. His eyes widened in surprise. Delighted surprise, but still.

Morgan let out a huff. She braced herself. “I...messed up.”

“How?” Thorax asked. He was sure that whatever she’d done, it could be easily fixed. Especially if they went at it together- oh Queen was it one of the kids? Had something happened Thorax hadn’t noticed? What if-

“With you. And...and Pharynx.”

Thorax couldn’t help but sneer.

Morgan pressed her face into the pillow. “See?!” She grumbled. “I screwed up.”

“Starry no.” Thorax moved his wing so it went over her. Morgan took deep breaths against the pillow. “Pharynx and me...we’ve never gotten along. It wasn’t-”

“I pushed you to talk to him! You would’ve been fine if I hadn’t said anything!” Morgan grumbled to herself.

Beating herself up about something she had no control over, yeah that sounded par for the course.

“No. I think it just would’ve made the fight public.” Thorax countered.

Morgan sniffled.

Thorax reached out with his senses. Sure enough he felt...grief. Just a lot of grief coming off Morgan in waves. So much so that she’d decided to cry into their pillow.

“Why are you beating yourself up over this?” Thorax asked. He held her tight with his wing, pulling her close to him. She only started silently leaking tears onto his coat. “It’s not-”

“I took one sibling from you, and now I took away another.” She whimpered.

Thorax said nothing.

“L-Logan wouldn’t have taken away Cicada if-if I wasn’t- if I hadn’t- if you-” She sniffled. She pressed herself onto Thorax’s side. Thorax let the tears soak his chitin. “Now I pushed you away from Pharynx.”

Thorax’s mind was spinning. He had known Morgan felt guilt about what happened with Cicada. When he revealed his connection to her, what Logan had done to his sister. He hadn’t thought she had made this link between himself and Pharynx.

“He’s not my brother.” Thorax told Morgan.

“But he wants to.” Morgan sniffled. “And- and I don’t-”

“I told Pharynx, if he wants to be my brother he knows what he has to do.” Thorax countered. He brushed his wing on Morgan’s back, trying to soothe her. “And he hasn’t done it. So neither will I.”

Morgan shook her head. “No. No you-”

“If he wants to be my family, he has to accept all the family I have now.” Thorax stressed. “The girls, Dark Justice,  _ you _ .”

He moved down on the bed so that he was looking Morgan in the eye. She had broken the skin on her lip by now. He reached up with his hoof to gently pry the lip away. The lip was already starting to swell red at the spot.

“I can’t bring him in if all he’ll do is hurt you.”

“That’s for us to decide.” Morgan sniffled. She uncurled her arms, moving them to her face. She wiped at her own frustrated tears. “If he insults us, then let  _ us _ be the ones to kick him in the head!”

Thorax had to admit the image was awesome. Morgan kicking Pharynx in the face.

“Last time you did that to a changeling, he married you.” Thorax countered. He held tighter to Morgan then. He could sense the feelings of embarrassment coming off her. “No way I’m letting him try.”

“Then- then I’ll smack him with a plate. He makes fun of the kids, he gets it!” Morgan warned.

Thorax actually laughed at that one. He was sorely tempted to try it now- to let Pharynx in just to see Morgan kick him out. It would be a sweet sort of vindication. Pharynx had never accepted the last girl Thorax had brought into the family because he thought she was ‘making him weaker’, so seeing the love of his life beat Pharynx to a pulp was the happiest idea Thorax had ever had.

But Morgan wanted him to have a sibling. She wanted that so  _ badly _ . She was breaking herself apart because she thought she had driven this wedge. Something that was complete _ bullshit _ . Did that ever stop Morgan? Nope.

“Unless he changes, I can’t bring him here.” Thorax stated. “His decisions aren’t on you.”

Morgan’s eyes watered again. “I know that.”

“Do you?” Thorax countered.

She wrapped her arms around him. She held Thorax close, moving her head to his neck to press a quick kiss.

Thorax could feel himself giving in. “He won’t change.”

“Thought that about Darcy too.” Morgan countered.

Thorax felt it coming closer. “He hates ponies- no, he hates everything not changeling.”

Morgan seemed to feel it too. Thorax sensed a relieved glee from her.

“Pharynx is a bastard.”

More glee. Thorax couldn’t take it.

“A real one. Who hates you. And the kids.”

“Our first foster home, Darcy tried killing everyone inside.”

“Yeah and your sister is insane.” Thorax dismissed. “Completely different to my brother, who has sense but doesn’t use it.”

“He’s gonna change.”

“No he  _ won’t. _ Don’t you make some changeling pun or I swear-”

Morgan moved up. She kissed his cheek, chin, then his nose. “He’ll change.”

“How are you so sure?” Thorax asked, toying with the idea of relenting to her.

“I changed.” Morgan kissed his lips. “So I could keep you. Thorax is a rare collectors item, you see.”

Thorax huffed. “Oh am I now?”

“Mmhmm.” Morgan kissed him again. “Why do you think he keeps chasing you down? He’ll see that he can’t fight change, not if he really wants a connection with you.”

“...promise you’ll beat him with a plate if he goes back to his usual bastard self?”

“It’ll be tectonic.” Morgan promised.

Thorax groaned in defeat.

Morgan giggled. 

“So we’re good now?” Thorax asked. “No more funk?”

Morgan shook her head. He sensed more delight in her- relief and joy and peace. 

“Can I go make breakfast now?” Thorax requested.

Morgan hummed. “Oh.” She unwrapped herself from his side. “Sure. Big day tomorrow. Dash’s gotta earn the loyalty key!”

Thorax moved out of the bed. “No idea what that means but I’m gonna go with it.” He kissed her head. “You know I love you, yeah?”

Morgan brushed her hand down his neck. She lightly scratched in assurances. Thorax gave a small shudder in delight. “As much as you know I provide great sustenance in the likely event of a crash landing.”

That got Thorax to laugh. 

Okay. They would be okay. Sure he had to confront his bastard of a brother to see if he’d really change his ways, to make their family really a family. Thorax supposed he had the right to say _ ‘I told you so’ _ when Pharynx proved himself.

Even if, way down deep, Thorax wouldn’t never admit that he hoped she was right.


	12. Rainbow Falls

Raspberry turned another page in her folder. She used her magic to dangle a cat toy. Cookie reached for it again, swiping at it with her claws. Dark Justice was trying to read a comic book, pointedly ignoring his two sisters. Dynamite kept trying to throw Cookie off by throwing another toy.

Thorax caught the toy before it could make an impact. He sat beside Raspberry, beaming. “What did I miss?”

Raspberry hummed. She kept scribbling on her papers.

“Starry?” Thorax prompted.

She kept scribbling.

Thorax turned to Dark Justice. “What did I miss?”

Dark Justice ignored him to read the book.

Thorax turned to the girls- his good family, who surely would be the ones to answer his question. “What did I miss?”

Cookie had caught the toy. She was chewing on it now, trying to reach the small bell inside. Dynamite rolled her eyes. “Nothing, Dad. We’ve just been sitting around.”

He relaxed. He moved to sit closer to Raspberry. His body changed into a puppy dog. He curled into Raspberry’s side. She used her wing to hold his back. She kept working on the papers.

“Have you seen Thor-” A blue changeling walked up. They squeaked, clapping their hooves over their mouth.

The kids looked up. They all gawked at the changeling. They hadn’t met any changelings before, not since they all changed. 

“Wow!” Cookie buzzed over to the embarrassed changeling. “A new changeling!”

Dynamite leaned in. “What’s it like to not have chitin anymore?”

Dark Justice lowered his book. He didn’t see much reason to ask questions. He kept reading, but kept an ear out to their conversation.

“Do really eat friendship now? Or- or are there other things you eat?” Dynamite asked.

Cookie buzzed around the changeling. They ducked to avoid the griffin’s curious claws. “Like Daddy! He eats other food all the time. Like he eats cookies and cake and pancakes and one time he ate hay nuggets!” She stopped herself, perching on the divider on the seats. She whispered in the way all children did. “ _ But don’t tell Mommy. She thinks I eated them.” _

The changeling squeaked again.

Thorax sat up from Raspberry’s wing. He shifted back to his changeling form. “Sorry Ziggy! You don’t have to answer that.” He lifted Cookie off the divider. The griffin giggled. “Everything okay?”

The changeling nervously glanced at the gathered family. “Uhh...just wanted to say...thanks for joining our relay time.” They shifted on their hooves. “It- Uh- really means a lot.”

“Oh no worries!” Thorax beamed. “Queen Thorne offered me any part in the Olympics and, well, considering how few changelings signed on at first I volunteered for the flag and for a sport. After our first meeting a lot more signed on, you know? But Queen Thorne still wanted me to be in an event.”

Beside him, Raspberry scribbled on her papers. She turned the page, reading it with the same intensity of a heart surgeon. 

“She said I would be great in the relay, so that’s what I signed for!” Thorax cheered. “Who else is on our team?”

“Waffle.” Ziggy stuttered. They glanced around at Raspberry again. “But...but she was- um- just-”

“Yeah?” Thorax prompted, curious.

Ziggy swallowed. “I- gotta get back to our carriage. Bye!” They rushed back towards the exit door. They practically slammed it shut, they were in such a hurry.

Thorax sat back, confused. “Huh.”

“What was that about?” Dynamite asked.

Thorax shrugged.

“Why does they- that changeling have the name, Toby-bia?” Cookie asked.

Raspberry snickered.

“Well Cookie, it’s easy. Some changelings were given scary names by the old Queen.” Thorax explained. “Some of them chose to Equestrianize their names. One of the changelings was called  _ ‘Poison’ _ and she changed it to  _ ‘Waffle’. _ ”

Raspberry hummed, thoughtful.

“Waffles can be poisoned.” Dark Justice noted.

Raspberry gave him a proud nod.

Thorax held back a sigh. She’d been thinking the same thing, huh? “Another changeling I heard about was Phobia. They’re probably thinking about changing it. I can understand. If my name was scary, I would change it.”

“Like how my sister changed her’s?” Raspberry joked. She glanced up from her paperwork to smile at Thorax. He smiled back.

“No.” He replied.

“Hi every-ah-body!” Twilight cheered. She walked over to their seats.

They all greeted her.

“I thought it was really awesome of you guys to sign on for the relay.” Twilight praised. 

“Correction:  _ he _ signed on for the relay. And the flag carrying.” Raspberry corrected. “I am being the parent that watches the kids.”

“That’s us!” Cookie cheered. She hopped back over to Dynamite. The pegasus caught her, dropping her down on the seat. “We are the kids!”

Twilight smiled at them. “That’s great. I’m looking forward to seeing you compete. I would show more support, but Ponyville is my team. I know the others support you too-”

“We get it.” Raspberry waved her hoof. She didn’t look up from her papers. “Rainbow Dash is on the- Cookie stop pulling her wings.”

Cookie pouted. She let go of a struggling Dynamite’s feathers. At Raspberry’s condemnation, she crawled over to Dark Justice. 

“No. Don’t do that either!” Raspberry warned.

Thorax’s antlers lit up in blue. Cookie was floated into the air. She whined as she was brought into Thorax’s hooves. “Sorry Twilight. She’d been antsy since Lilac went away.”

Cookie yelled loudly. Raspberry rushed over to put a good on Cookie’s beak. 

Dynamite chuckled. Dark Justice glanced up from his book. 

“See you at Rainbow Falls!” Thorax cheered, hugging a struggling Cookie to his chest.

Twilight gave them a polite wave before walking away.

He turned to Raspberry, who was putting away the papers in her saddlebags. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“What was that stuff?”

“I’ll tell you later. It’s not a big thing.” Raspberry held out her hooves. Thorax passed over the struggling Cookie. “You go see the changelings.”

“Really?” Thorax asked. Raspberry nodded. “Thanks!” He kisses her cheek before rushing off to the other carriage.

Raspberry blew out a breath.

“He’s going to mess up something in the relay, isn’t he?” Dark Justice prompted.

“Oh without a doubt.” Raspberry replied. She handed a chew toy to Cookie. The griffin child latched onto it, happily teething it with her beak.

==CAH==

The Rainbow Falls were aptly names. The falls were surrounded by a tiny fishing village. They had sky full of rainbow clouds, which poured down rainbows in waterfalls. The waterfalls themselves cast rainbows down into rainbow puddles below.

All in all, beautiful scenery.

The Stardust family walked off the train. 

Thorax turned to Raspberry. “I gotta go help the others settle in.”

Raspberry nodded. She tucked her paperwork into her saddlebag. Something different than her usual Infinity Bag. This was a simple saddlebag. Thorax had realized he’d never seen her wearing one before. “I’ll walk the kids around the block. Think I see a toy store over there.”

“You’re volunteering to take Cookie to a toy store?” Thorax joked.

Raspberry shrugged. “They’d have it in rainbow. And I’d like to see what they got.”

“Ah. Human Pride.” Thorax nodded. “You’ve got our flag carrying plan done, right? On the train?”

“No. I did paperwork from Tracy.” Raspberry answered. Thorax’s eyes bugged out. “What?”

“You did  _ paperwork _ from _ Tracy _ ?” Thorax repeated.

Raspberry said nothing to Thorax. She turned her head towards the kids. “Younglings, come on! Time to go full tourist.” She walked past Thorax. She made sure to kiss his cheek before walking off. “You can buy one thing for the whole trip. And I mean it! Choose wisely. Dynamite, I’m looking at you!”

Thorax watched in confusion while his family walked off into town. Before he could overthink it, a changeling leapt onto his back.

“Hello!” Thorax knew this one. He turned his head to see a neon orange changeling, with compound blue eyes beaming at him. “I missed you!”

Thorax chuckled. “Waffle, you just saw me on the train.”

“And then we got off the train. And then you walked over here without us. I missed you!” Waffle hugged Thorax tighter. Thorax gagged.

Ziggy flew over. “Come on, Waffle, he needs to breathe.”

Waffle froze. “My bad!” She let go of Thorax, sliding off his back. She beamed as if she hadn’t just been reprimanded. “Have you seen how many rainbows this place has?! It’s so many. I didn’t know they came from clouds! It’s so exciting. Where are we going?”

Thorax pointed out towards the relay training area. “Over there. There’s going to be a lot of other competitors, so we each get a little patch of land for training and flying.”

“Awesome!” Waffle flew up, dashing away.

Thorax winced. “I didn’t tell her which area.”

Ziggy sighed. “So we should chase her down, huh?” 

Thorax heard murmurings at his side. He looked over, seeing the Equestrians eyeing his people with caution. He looked over to see a lot more changelings gawking around at the rainbows. There wasn’t a lot of color back in the Hive, despite all the changes made recently. waiting by the train station.

“You go. I’ll catch up.” Thorax stated. Ziggy gave him a confused look. “Consider it early practice. I need to get everyling else to their stations.”

Ziggy gave him a look. “You won’t get side tracked and go do something else, will you?”

“What? No. Why would I do that?” Thorax asked.

“Cause-” Ziggy glanced away. “Whatever. Just remember to come practice.” They buzzed off after Waffle.

Thorax hummed. “That was weird.” He went over to the group of changelings gawking at the rainbows. “Alright everyone! We need to get started, okay?”

The changelings all beamed in joy. The attention and looks from the Equestrians not even showing up on their faces.

“Dodger, you take the competitive flyers to the area marked in...ah...purple!” A green changeling nodded. He and two other changelings flying off that way. “Aztec, take the disc throwers to the one marked in blue.” Another changeling nodded before going off. “Lance take the lance throwers-”

“It’s the orange one.” Lance replied. “I read the pamphlet on the train a hundred times!”

“Of course you did.” Thorax noted. “Well hop to it!”

Lance nodded before flying off.

Thorax watched the last of the changelings head off. Once that was done, he went over to find where his group had ended up.

If he spared a look towards town, searching for Raspberry and the kids, he never said.

==CAH==

“How do we play?” Waffle asked.

“You signed for a game you didn’t know how to play?” Thorax asked.

“Yeah!” Waffle answered.

“Okay.” Thorax couldn’t really say anything. He signed on for a lot of dumb stuff in the human world- at Morgan’s suggestion- without knowing before hoof. Morgan had definitely done it to make Darcy laugh. “Okay...I can work with that.”

Waffle beamed. 

Ziggy walked up. They held up a hoof. “I know how to play!”

“Oh, cool.” Thorax grinned. “Then I guess I won’t have to get too into the-”

Three pegasi zoomed by overhead. Thorax, Ziggy, and Waffle watched them go by.

“What are those?” Waffle asked.

“The Wonderbolts.” Ziggy supplied. “They do extreme flying stunts. I heard they were really good flyers.”

“And we’re going against Ponyville, the team with Rainbow Dash.” Thorax added. “So we have a high bar. I’m not even gonna aim for first or second, just as long as we qualify we should be fine.”

“How do we qualify though?” Waffle asked.

“We be in the top four racing teams.” Thorax answered. “Waffle, we can explain the rules-”

“Give us some clouds!” Two loud voices shouted. Thorax tilted his head. He looked off towards the distance, seeing a pair of cheerleaders dressed up in Cloudsdale coloring. “Give us some dale! And what do you get? Cloudsdale! Woo-hoo!”

“Do we have cheerleaders?” Waffle asked.

“I don’t think so.”

“Oh! Oh!” Waffle hopped in place. “I know!”

Ziggy winced. “Please don’t say-”

“Wildberry Poptart could do it!” Waffle suggested. “He likes to dance.”

Thorax blinked. “...I’m sorry, who?”

Ziggy pinched their forehead. “It’s...it’s her brother.” They rubbed the side of their head. “Changed their name.”

“Ash changed it to...Wildberry Poptart?” Thorax repeated. “Why? How did he even know about those?”

“You had them at the meeting.” Ziggy noted.

“Starry suggested it.” Thorax admitted. “Said...said aliens liked poptarts, when they first came to Earth. Oh by the Queen it was a reference-”

“We don’t have time.” Ziggy dismissed. “Remember?”

“Right! Right.” Thorax nodded. He turned to Waffle, who was blinking blank compound eyes at him. “The rules are easy. First you hold the baton- which looks like a horseshoe-”

The next few minutes were spent explaining the rules to Waffle. She seemed to get them for the most part. A few times she got confused about how to pass the baton, but Ziggy was able to correct her.

It was all going so well.

Sadly it was a Tuesday so it all had to go wrong.

==CAH==

Thorax realized he didn’t have the baton. Correction, he had forgotten to even  _ pack _ the baton. He remembered it being shipped to them by Thorne. He remembered seeing it on a table. He could  _ not-  _ for the life of him- remember packing it.

“You’re an idiot.”

“That’s what my wife says all the time.” Thorax agreed. He smiled. “It’s how she says she loves me.”

Ziggy didn’t seem to agree. “Are you sure about that?”

“I can feel her love.” Thorax sighed happily. “It’s enough to feed me for a month, back in the old days.”

Ziggy looked away for a moment.

“Hey. Is everything okay?” Thorax asked.

Before Ziggy could answer, a loud scream cut her off.

“DADDY!” Cookie yelled before pile driving into Thorax’s side. He fell to the ground as Cookie hugged him. “Daddy I missed you did you miss me? Were you looking for me?”

“Totally.” Thorax replied through clenched teeth. Her claws were biting into his chest. “Babe!”

“Coming, honey.” Cookie was lifted off in a glow of gold. She was lowered onto Raspberry’s back. Thorax spotted Dynamite and Dark Justice sitting nearby. Justice still in his book. Dynamite seemed to be working on a contraption. Raspberry smiled. “You’re hard changelings to find. You didn’t even set up the tent yet.”

“We got busy explaining the rules to Waffle.” Thorax admitted.

Raspberry blinked. “The rules to who?”

“Me!” Waffle buzzed down. She floated above Raspberry’s head, looking upside down into her eyes. “My name’s Waffle! It used to be Poison but I changed it!”

Raspberry stared on. “...your eyes are blue.”

“Like blueberries!” Waffle agreed. “Hold on-” She gasped. “You’re the Great Betrayer!”

“You lot still call me that?” Raspberry asked. She walked over towards an empty patch of land, where the setup for a tent lay. “Oh, Bee, you left this in my saddlebag.” She lifted up a copper horseshoe.

Thorax sagged in relief. “You had it!” He rushed to her side, picking up the shoe. He kissed her cheek. “Where would I be without you?”

“Destitute.” Raspberry answered. She lifted a jingle toy out of her bag, passing it to Cookie. The griffon squealed in delight before playing with it. “Hi Ziggy!”

Ziggy stared at Raspberry, with a nervous expression. “You- you know my name?”

“Bee told me.” Raspberry answered. “He’s really excited for the relay. But he’s also a puppy made into a changeling, so he gets excited when I walk through a door.”

“You were gone for ages!” Thorax whined.

“It was  _ one hour _ .” Raspberry countered. Thorax laughed- more at feeling her own feelings of joy and delight from their back-and-forth. “Do you guys still call me the Betrayer?” Raspberry asked.

Ziggy said nothing.

Now Thorax was feeling a little off. He knew Pharynx still did- which irked him for a whole other reason. “Ziggy?” Thorax prompted.

“We need to start practice.” Ziggy buzzed up into the sky.

“Oh! I gotta chase them!” Waffle recalled. She buzzed up into the sky.

Thorax and Raspberry watched them go. Thorax turned to Raspberry, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Babe?”

Raspberry hesitated. “An orange changeling with blueberry blue eyes, and dark orange chitton? Babe, you friend named herself after breakfast food _ and she looks like it _ .”

Thorax decided telling her about Wildberry would be the worst idea of his life. “Yeah...funny how life works out.”

Raspberry sprung up their tent. “Did you know they still called me that?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you know they still called me a traitor?”

“Is there a right answer?” Thorax asked after a pause. Raspberry worried the skin of her lip. “Maybe they don’t mean it as an insult. I mean, you betrayed Chrysalis. Not the whole hive. You saved the Hive!”

Raspberry said nothing. She sat down on the grass, pulling out the documents Thorax had seen that morning. “You need to train with your team.” Raspberry replied. She was trying to be cold and detached, but Thorax could feel that she was anything but. “Ziggy and the living changeling Waffle.”

“Starry.” Thorax tried.

“Tracy really wanted this done last week. Last week on Earth, so I’ve been putting it off for three months.” Raspberry noted. “Huh. You’ve done it. You’ve actually done it. You found a way to make me do this paperwork: watching you do sport.”

Thorax wanted to stay on land. He wanted to talk to Raspberry until she told him what she was thinking. He could sense her emotions for days and days, and still have no idea what was going on in her head. 

But he knows it takes her awhile to even admit she has feelings. Much longer to sort through what those feelings are. Thorax could help, fuck yeah Thorax could help with that, but only when Raspberry let herself be open to him. Which came about as often as a blue fucking moon.

So Thorax went up to the skies.

==CAH==

It didn’t get much better after that.

Thorax had checked on the other teams, ones trying out to qualify in the various other arenas for the Games. A lot of them were surprisingly good at the events, while the others were so bad it was laughable. 

He mostly stayed in the skies. If he went to ground, he’d check on the kids and Raspberry. If he did that, Raspberry would definitely get mad instead of working out her feelings. It would just start something that Thorax did not want to unpack.

There was an incident a few teams over. Soarin, from the Wonderbolts, had crashed into one of the rings. Dash had caught him before he hit the ground. By the look of his wing, he wasn’t going to be flying by the time the competition came around. 

As a competitor, Thorax thought that gave his team a chance.

As somepony with empathy, Thorax wanted to send a card.

Cloudsdale had offered their third empty spot to Rainbow Dash. The speedster had agreed, after some inner debate. Thorax knew- without Raspberry even telling him- that Rainbow would go back to Ponyville’s team before the competition.

Thorax had just run through another lap of the race. It was decided that Waffle would fly first, Ziggy second, and Thorax would finish the race. It would be tricky sorting out the flyers, considering Dash was flying with Ponyville on the last leg of the race, but Thorax thought he could cover it.

It would be easier if they could shift in flight. Only Thorne had told them it was considered cheating, likened it to using magic to make sure the arrows hit the targets and the like, so no shapeshifting to aid their chosen game.

_ Ugh _ .

Thorax, Ziggy, and Waffle went to their tent to get water. Raspberry was using her magic to keep a different toy always just out of Cookie’s reach. Also Dynamite, as apparently the pegasus was constantly trying to grab the toy to keep it away from Cookie.

Justice sat beside Raspberry. The two of them focusing on the papers in front of them.

Raspberry pointed a hoof as the changelings approached. “Water in the cooler. And snacks.”

“Did your sister make them?” Thorax asked. One would think Killjoy would be left out of the meal planning process, but apparently she liked it. And she was good. Thorax was always cautious with her baked goods though.

Ziggy was already opening the cooler.

“She cut the bananas.” Raspberry replied. She glanced over her shoulder to the girls. “Dynamite, could you seriously stop trying to grab it?”

“But I wouldn’t let her catch it!” Dynamite promised.

“It’s not about her  _ ‘not’  _ catching it, it’s about getting her to use her wings.” Raspberry explained.

Ziggy pulled out the snacks. There were a lot of cut up bananas, along with yogurt packets and boxes of raisins. They eyed Raspberry as they passed out the snacks. Thorax accepted the raisins and bananas before going up to Raspberry’s side. He shifted into a snake to curl around her neck.

Raspberry rubbed his back with her hoof. She glanced over to Ziggy. The two had a moment of silent exchange, ignoring the excited chewing noises of Waffle and the complaints of Cookie at her sister.

Thorax tightened on her neck, to get her attention.

Raspberry seemed to give Ziggy some subtle signal. The blue changelings just turned their nose, snacking on raisins.

There was a shout.

“Dynamite!” Raspberry called back. “I mean it. Cookie needs to grab it herself.”

“But I wanna do it!” Dynamite whined.

“You can already fly!”

“Yeah! So I can hold it really high!”

“Nu-uh! It’s mine!” Cookie argued. “Mama said!”

“Dynamite you can’t fly high enough for it.”

“I could try!”

“No! Mama said that it was ME!”

Justice huffed to their sides. Thorax turned to the colt, giving him a long blink. Justice looked at Thorax like Justice was suffering the most cruel punishment ever. How dare they put him in the same air space as those two loud children? Thorax hissed at him, sticking out his tongue. It only made Justice roll his eyes.

Thorax could almost pretend this was a fun picnic.

If it weren’t for the murky feelings lingering beneath Raspberry’s skin. For the distaste in Ziggy’s look. If not for the Equestrians that kept glancing at their tent with suspicion. 

So not a great picnic.

Then again, Waffle decided bananas made a better face mask than snack, so he had that going for him. 

He shifted back into his changeling form. He kissed the top of Raspberry’s head. She patted his hoof with her’s. There was a small dose of love in the touch. Thorax was soothed by it. He turned over to the girls, still bickering over who was actually supposed to catch the toy.

He winked at Raspberry. She glanced over her shoulder, smirked, and nodded.

Thorax buzzed over to catch the stuffed reindeer. Both girls whined when he caught.

“Oh, was this your’s?” Thorax asked them.

“Yes!” Cookie yelled, somewhere between frustrated and excited.

“So...you should catch me!” Thorax ran out towards the training hoops.

“Dad!” Cookie complained, but still she chased after him.

“No fair!” Dynamite yelled before chasing him too.

Thorax laughed as they chased him into the sky. He looked over to their tent when he could, seeing Waffle still smashing bananas onto her face. Raspberry and Ziggy were still giving each other chilled looks.

This was going to blow up in his face. Thorax just hoped nopony kicked him.

==CAH==

Two days of that.

Two days of training. Of Thorax practicing with his team, checking on the other changelings groups. He had encouraged the changelings to reach out to the ponies, to show them that changelings were different now. It seemed to slowly be working. Especially as the ponies saw that the changelings were greeting Princess Twilight with ease and she back. 

Cookie did eventually start catching the doll. Even if she would catch it from Dynamite, who stole it before Raspberry could take it for the day.

Though between Ziggy and Raspberry, it was still tense. Raspberry had gotten through a lot of the paperwork that Tracy had sent over, which didn’t leave her a lot of options to pretend not to notice the looks. Ziggy pretended they weren’t pointedly ignoring Raspberry by focusing more on training.

Thorax didn’t like where it was going.

==CAH==

Rainbow Dash ducked behind a tree. She changed out of the borrowed Cloudsdale uniform. She let out a relieved breath. Training like this was actually starting to give her some wear, so she paced herself before heading back to the Ponyville team.

She scooped up water into her hoof, drinking it. She heard voices nearby. She was worried somepony was gonna spot her switching teams so she hid in a tree. She looked out, seeing it was Raspberry and a blue changeling talking.

“-just saying, if you have a problem with me just say it.” Raspberry told the changeling.

The changeling just scoffed.

“I mean it. Bee can tell you’re acting like this with me. He won’t work with changelings that don’t accept his family.”

“I accept Thorax’s family.” The changeling countered. “The griffon and pegasus are loud, but they aren’t so bad. The colt is cool. He just sits and reads the whole time.”

“I know.” Raspberry replied. “And it’s clear that  _ I’m  _ the one you don’t like. You still think I’m the  _ ‘Great Betrayer’. _ ”

The changeling said nothing.

Rainbow Dash kept an ear open. She remembered that name being used for Raspberry from changelings, that she heard it from the other changeling teams. They all liked Applejack’s brown bettys- said they were made with love and it made them taste better.

“What, is it a grudge thing?” Raspberry asked. “A lingering issue with Chrysalis? You still side with her?”

“Noling follows Chrysalis!” The blue changeling argued. “Queen Thorne is the best thing to happen to our hive in a long time.”

“So it’s just about me, then.” Raspberry reasoned.

“Just because you betrayed an enemy, doesn’t mean you won’t betray anyling again.”

“You think I’d betray Bee?” Raspberry asked, sounding not surprised by the idea but maybe surprised that they were actually thinking about it. The blue changeling said nothing. “Why?”

“You’re Princess Raspberry Stardust. You’re the one who fought Chrysalis in the first place, got all of us changelings redeemed. If you changed your mind about us, about Thorax, the rest of Equestria would too.”

Rainbow Dash wished she had popcorn.

“So?” Raspberry asked. “You think if I betray Bee, I’ll throw all the changelings under the bus?”

The changeling blinked. “The what?”

“Idiom from Home.” Raspberry rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t do that to Bee.  _ He’s _ the reason Equestria is starting to accept you. He changed first, proving that all of you could do it. All I did was tell him to power kick his mom.”

“Really?”

“Yeah...it was gonna be awesome.” Raspberry smirked. Rainbow Dash did too. It would’ve been so cool if somepony kicked Chrysalis in the face. “I know how changeling bonds work. Bee chose me, but I also chose him. We’re family, all of us. If I go against the changelings, I go against him. And I won’t ever do that. No just for the kids, but because I can’t imagine ever doing it to him. It would break him, break me with him.”

“Nopony is that loyal.” The blue changeling argued.

“You’d be surprised.” Raspberry stated. She glanced up to the sky. Though when Rainbow looked back, she realized Raspberry had been looking for  _ her _ . “And I’m not a pony.”

The blue changeling said nothing.

“We need to get back.” Raspberry suggested. “Waffle is gonna smash yogurt on her face if we don’t.”

The changeling whined. “I don’t get it.”

“I think she’s heard about face masks being made of food, and she just thought-”

“No, not that. I mean it’s confusing but I don’t wanna know Waffle’s thought process there.” The blue changeling shuddered. “I still don’t get why you’re doing all of this. You didn’t have to.”

“I never do.”

“We’d all get it if you avoided us.”

“I know.”

“You don’t even go to the meetings.”

“Bee is worried I’ll overwork myself. And I will.” Raspberry conceded. “Now come on. She’s opening the cooler.”

“By the Queen!” The blue changeling squeaked, rushing off towards their tent.

Rainbow Dash sighed, enjoying the little show. She had no idea about all that changeling stuff. She wondered if it would get resolved before the competition. She reclined on the tree, thinking maybe a catnap was in order.

“It’s not easy practicing with two teams, is it?” Twilight asked, leaning against the foot of the tree.

Rainbow Dash yelped, falling from the tree.

==CAH==

“Did Rainbow Dash seriously fake an injury so she wouldn’t have to pick?”

“Yep.”

“...I should be concerned.”

“Nah. Waffle is seeing how many raisins she can fit in her mouth before her mouth gets full...or we run out. Which ever goes first.”

“...I am concerned.”

“Thatta boy.”

==CAH==

In the end, Rainbow Dash flew with Ponyville. Soarin’ had  _ ‘recovered’  _ from his  _ ‘injury’  _ so he could fly with Cloudsdale.

And Waffle could fit in six boxes of raisins.

==CAH==

Cloudsdale and Ponyville had qualified already. Thorax was waiting as his starting point, watching as Waffle handed off the baton to Ziggy.

“You can do it Dad!” Dynamite shouted.

“Woohoo!” Cookie screamed. She was dressed up in a rainbow cheerleading outfit. She waved multiple pom-poms in her claws. “D-A-D! Go Dad!”

“Sport!” Raspberry shouted.

Thorax laughed, just in time to see Ziggy rushing up.

“Double sport!” Raspberry shouted.

Ziggy stopped just before Thorax with the baton. Thorax took it, buzzing off.

“Yay!” Raspberry cheered.

“D-A-D! Go Dad!” Cookie shouted.

“Go Thorax!” Pinkie shouted.

Thorax focused on dipping and diving to make it through the hoops. He could still hear ponies cheering, along with his fellow changelings.

He raced through the finish line. He landed himself on the barrier, watching the pony with the timer.

“The changelings qualify!” The representative announced.

Thorax let out a whooping cheer. Below, the crowd gave loud encouraging cheers too. He flew back down to the land, pulling Raspberry into a hug before kissing her. She laughed through the kiss. 

When they kiss ended, Thorax found they were all surrounded by happy cheering ponies and changelings. He grinned at Raspberry. “You’re married to a pro athlete.”

“I regret every life choice leading to this moment.” Raspberry deadpanned.

But Thorax could feel she was lying. And he was so bursting with joy the only option was to kiss her again.

When that kiss ended, Raspberry went over to congratulate Ziggy and Waffle. Waffle had looked like she would explode in glee, while Ziggy did not look so cold towards Raspberry. The two even shook hooves!

Thorax was even happier that nothing hit him in the head.

==CAH==

Thorax came home with a medal around his neck. Killjoy’s first instinct was to choke him with it.


	13. The Discord Continuum

Discord sneezed.

Morgan snickered as she walked up to his bedside. Or rather, bubble-side. “We were gone, for two days.” She noted. “Two whole days. And you couldn’t help yourself.”

He blew out into a tissue. “Oh shut up.”

Morgan kept on snickering. She took a seat by the bubble, pulling a book out from her Bag.  _ Rudimentary Inter-Dimensional Science & You _ . She cracked it open to a bookmarked page.

Yes Discord had indeed come to Ponyville for a visit. The timing had been off. Fluttershy had left to study Breezies, a rare animal that had rarely been seen before. Morgan and her family had left to go visit the Hive, and Morgan and Darcy had gone to train Lilac. The kids stayed with Thorax, the other changelings loved meeting new people.

In Ponyville, Twilight and Cadance had agreed to meet. How unfortunate that Discord had gotten  _ ‘sick’ _ , and needed the tender care of a friend. And in an effort to heal himself, he not only brought Twilight closer to Cadance but got himself sick.

Fluttershy returned, tending to the draconequus.

The Stardust family returned to openly laugh at him.

Discord tossed away the used tissue. It vanished back into the ether. “Morgan!” He whined.

A glass of water floated towards his quarantine bubble. It went to a small flap. Discord pushed it open to grab the glass.

Morgan hummed. “You’re welcome, Discord.”

Discord gulped down the drink, sighing in relief. “Hmm?”

She chuckled softly, turning the page in her book.

“What brings you by this late at night?” Discord pondered. “Fluttershy would be more than happy to care for me.”

“That girl needs to rest too. All that time studying Breezies then back here caring for you? I reckon she needs a break from all this.” Morgan countered. “So I offered to cover the night shift.”

“Are you neglecting sleep again?” Discord chided, giggling as he took a sip of the water.

Morgan kept herself occupied on her book. 

“You always did have a fondness for bags.” Discord commented.

“They go with my hair.” Morgan remarked, turning another page. 

Discord hummed, appraising his friend. In her human form, it was easy to spot where she was lacking. They bags under her eyes were big and heavy. She wasn’t reading as fast as she normally could. Discord was well aware of when Morgan was putting on strain. It had been useful, back when he was evil. 

“Was this you trying to get her a key?” Morgan prompted.

Discord harrumphed. He turned on his side in the magic bubble. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

A lot of there conversations tended to go this way. Yes there was a lot of back and forth, something that would make any viewer fear for the state of their universe. They would have much debate on the nature of the universe itself. How it worked here, in what Morgan called ‘Animation land’. They debated the physics of it- Morgan did so love hearing about the deactivation of their gravity.

They spoke of some of Discord’s questionable ethics, alongside Morgan’s own. Hos Discord had been shown to manipulate minds, however small a matter that looked to the outside it meant a lot to Morgan. Morgan spoke for a long time about the many times that happened on Equestria soil, that gave her disquiet. They spoke about things they would do- not that they would, on the basis of being caught and having to correct themselves, but they talked...and they wondered. 

Most often, they talked about the future of Equestria. Yes, the Princesses up in Canterlot discussed many things for the future of the country. Yes they worked with Princess Cadance and Queen Thorne and the dignitaries of many other countries on this planet. Yes, even the Mane 6 could talk. Yet Discord and Morgan knew many things those ponies did not. And so, they spoke of those things.

“Of course. Apologies.” Morgan replied airily. She turned a page in the book. “You’d never talk about your own plans.”

“What about yourself. How are all your little plans, Your Majesty?” Discord prompted. He loved reminding Morgan of her own royal title. That she was a queen in all but title. He also seemed to be elated at the idea of another kingdom to play with. Morgan always told him the first second she had that title, she’d invite him to Earth.

Morgan hummed. She gave him an idle shrug of her shoulders. “It’s going alright. Lilac is doing better in her training. Cookie flew for five minutes yesterday.”

“Did she? What an accomplishment.” Discord commented with a sneer. He didn’t mind her children much. Her daughter had helped to free him from his stone prison, but the cat one had often scratched at him. Apparently his claw hand and wing had told Cookie that he was some kind of bird.

“You mock. This is an important thing.” She reminded him. “Teaching a cat to fly? That’s literally like leading a horse to water.”

“She doesn’t like those either.” Discord countered. He remembered once dosing the kitten with a water bucket- he could still feel the scratches. She had deserved it too.

“She’s still got some cat instincts about her...those don’t stop.” Morgan excused. “No matter how much time she spends on this side, she’s just a kitten with sentience.”

Discord turned to his other side again.

“And you know how Dynamite is doing-”

“Grounded, from what you said.”

“For life, on my suggestion.” Morgan gave him a thin smile. “You gave her a radioactive bomb.”

That got Discord to grin. “Your sister said it would be a great idea for a cutiemark.”

“And you believed her?” Morgan snarked. “Darcy would say giving Dark Justice batarangs would be smart too- or a red hood. I get the joke she’s trying to make, and it’s in poor taste.”

“Don’t want your children becoming superheroes?” Discord inquired. “I thought you’d enjoy that sort of thing. The family business, and all that.”

“The business my sister encourages involves murder and radioactive explosions. So no.” Morgan remarked.

Discord hummed in delight- not bothering to hide any chuckles at his delight.

“Since you didn’t ask, the changelings are doing great.” Morgan threw in. “Thorax should be getting back tomorrow from a visit.”

“For the Games, or just a good ole family reunion?” Discord asked.

“Bits of both.” Morgan supplied. “He wanted to meet with his team for the Games, then host another Integration Meeting. Or, observe some of their attempts at integration. He texted me just as I was coming back here- apparently Ziggy likes chess and Waffle-”

“Waffle? One of those changelings genuinely changed their name to  _ Waffle? _ ” Discord questioned, sitting up right.

“I know.” Morgan explained, in a tone that said she was just as confused as he was. “Cracker?”

“Yes.” Discord replied. “And one of those green drinks, if you have more.”

Morgan moved a small packet of crackers into the bubble, along with a green bottle of Gatorade. She turned another page in her book. “As I was saying, Waffle apparently just likes exploring her new surroundings of the Badlands.”

“I bet that was an adventure.” Discord replied, making the idea of adventure sound distasteful and dull.

Morgan smiled, implying much of the opposite. “I bet it was.”

Discord sneezed. At his disgusted groan, he gulped down the green drink. “I hate being sick.”

“Everyone does. How does it feel to be on that level for a change?” Morgan inquired, sounding curious herself at the experience.

Discord paused, thoughtful. “I don’t like it. Every part of me is full is aches and pains.  _ Ugh _ \- this is why I never get sick.”

“And yet, here we are.” Morgan waved the hand not holding her book out around Fluttershy’s living room. “With you, sick.”

Discord toyed with the empty plastic bottle. “You know, you sound so smug for someone in your shoes.”

“Discord I’ve been sick before.” Morgan told him, chuckling. “Common cold, the flu, shit like that. I’m not superhuman.”

“Says the human with super powers.” Discord retorted.

“Careful, Discord. It sounds like you’re trying to start something.” Morgan mused.

Discord chomped on a cracker. “Did it?” He asked innocently.

Morgan was aware he was manipulative- powers or no powers. There were hundreds of ways he could twist her about. Her own plans could very well be turned on their side if Discord twisted her.

She took a breath. Turning another page in her book, she focused on the writings. She paid no mind to her foot that began tapping rapidly on the ground. She didn’t pay mind to her rapidly tapping finger along the book’s creases.

She thought about her plans. The next season of Equestria was full of danger. She had more to think about now than just her friends, the community. Her children were part of it now. Her boyfriend’s family, the changelings she hadn’t met in the integration groups. They would matter in the future.

Discord had repeatedly brought up her powers. She should take that into consideration. What would that have to do with anything? She was doing what she could in all those things. But Discord’s repeated comments implied so much...

“You want to ask.” Discord taunted. Morgan’s tapping finger stilled. “Go ahead, Queen Morgan. Ask away.”

“You wouldn’t tell me.” Morgan countered.

“Maybe my illness is making me feel generous.”

Morgan gave a small shake of her head. “That doesn’t fit into your character.”

Discord scoffed. “Does that really matter? My character, he’s had some character growth. He may be different than you know.”

Morgan gave him a flat stare. “He could.” She leaned forward. “But  _ has _ he?”

Discord only smiled wide. His one fang standing out proudly. “I was joking about the bags earlier. But looking closer they’re hard to ignore.”

She closed her book, keeping her face turned towards his. She got up from the chair, walking over to Fluttershy’s couch. She laid herself down, cloaking herself from Discord’s sight.

“You should sneeze more often. It’s more believer that way.” Morgan commented.

“Noted.” Discord replied. His skin seemed less green in that moment. He let out a loud sneeze.


	14. Mother's Pride

Morgan blinked.

Dynamite blinked back, still beaming wide and proud at herself.

Thorax, at her side, was tapping the lid of his mug.

“I was listening but I need you to repeat that whole thing again.” Morgan stated.

Dynamite rolled her eyes. “Pinkie Pie asked me to help make something for Rainbow Dash’s party.”

“And you...wanted to build a bomb.”

“It won’t be like last time!” Dynamite promised.

“You mean last time, when the bomb you built was radioactive? That last time?” Morgan asked.

“You said it was Discord’s fault in the first place!” Dynamite excused.

Thorax pat Morgan on the shoulder. “Tap in.”

Morgan nodded. She sat back in her seat, eyes unseeing while Thorax leaned forward.

“Promise not to start nuclear fallout?”

“Yes!” Dynamite promised. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”

Thorax beamed. “Then of course you can! Have fun helping Pinkie!”

Dynamite squealed. She flew over, giving Thorax a hug. “Thanks Dad!” She  _ dashed  _ out of the house, flying towards what could only be Sugarcube Corner.

“You should hope this doesn’t come to bite back in twenty years.” Morgan pointed out. Thorax tilted his head. “What if we need her to build a nuclear bomb? Or she does it unintentionally and it blows? You’ve given her a death curse.”

Thorax broke out a smile. “Don’t give me your anxiety. It’s yours, not mine.”

Morgan smirked into her mug.

Thorax pointedly ignored it.

==CAH==

Pinkie had just sung a song.

To anyone who knew her, this was the best part of Raspberry’s week. 

Yes there was a lot she loved in her day-to-day life. She loved walking her kids to school. She loved conferencing with Twilight (meaning, she annoyed Twilight until Twilight started pulling out her mane). She loved working on her Plans, crafting them for now and the future. She loved training with her kids.

But something that was fun just for the sake of being fun?

Pinkie had never let her down.

_ Not all women? You’re right.  _

Raspberry threw herself into the song sweeping the town. 

_ “Every single day there’s something new we can plan for!”  _ Raspberry sang, loudly and happily.  _ “Every single day there’s something wonderful to try. But nothing makes us happy like a day that we can say ’Today there’ll be a party planned by Pinkie Pie!’” _

Pinkie stretched out a banner on the dirt in front of Sugarcube Corner. She danced around it, painting it with rainbows and sparkles. Raspberry watched, overjoyed. Pinkie’s friends watched too.

“I don’t know how she does it.” Rarity praised.

“Wow, look at her go!” Twilight cheered.

“Oh, boy! This is gonna be good!” Applejack commented.

“Go, Pinkie, go!” Fluttershy whispered.

“You can do it!” Raspberry shouted.

_ “There’s no other pony like her, no pony that could be As great! (As great!) As fun! (As fun!) As our super party pony Pinkie!” _ The crowd finished.

Pinkie finished her banner, hanging it up just in front of the shop. Once it was set up, she squealed loudly. “Ooh, I am so, so,  _ SO _ excited because today I’m planning the birthday bash of... _ Rainbow Dash _ !”

Dash had flown in front of the banner, covering Pinkie’s drawing of her. She flew down as she was mentioned. “Yeah!”

“Wow that drawing is bad.” Dynamite commented.

“I know but we don’t tell her that.” Raspberry whispered.

Dynamite nodded in reply.

Pinkie suddenly became serious. She pulled Rainbow Dash down. “Rainbow Dash.”

Dash looked confused by the change. “Yes, Pinkie?”

“You realize that, by enlisting me as your party planner, I guarantee that this is going to be the funnest, most fantabulous, superbial party in Ponyville?” Pinkie explained.

“Uh...yeah? I guess.” Dash replied.

“No guesses! Parties are no picnic.” Pinkie argued.

“Oh, I like a nice picnic party.” Fluttershy noted. Pinkie threw her a glare. Fluttershy wilted. “Oh!”

“Parties. Are. Serious! And you have my certified Pinkie Party Promise that you will have the best birthday party ever!” Pinkie promised, performing the actions for her standard Pinkie Promise (cupcake in the eye and all).

“Okay.” Dash replied, not even close to the same levels of seriousness as Pinkie.

“Great! Now, who’s ready to join this super duper party pony to plan this super duper pa-rty?” Pinkie offered.

“Me!” Dynamite raised up her hoof. She held up a set of blueprints she had designed herself. “I started on the thing you told me to make-”

“The Super-Duper-Mega-Fireworks?” Pinkie prompted.

“Yep!” Dynamite held up the blueprints. “I just wanna know how I make it the rainbow shape. You never showed me how to keep the colors apart until the explosion.”

“Oh! That’s easy!” Pinkie replied. “First you-”

“Did somepony ask for help?” A mysterious pony asked.

Everypony gasped, turning towards the mystery pony. He was leaning against the side of a building. 

The legendary Cheese Sandwich had arrived.

==CAH==

After another town wide musical number, Cheese Sandwich was chosen to host Rainbow Dash’s birth-aversary. Everypony in town and in Dash’s friend group was excited.

Of course, this left Pinkie feeling quite left behind.

As per usual in times of crisis, Pinkie went to the one person she could count on. The one creature that never ever let her down. When Pinkie needed assurance, this was the creature always there.

And Gummy had said:  _ “Go to the human.” _

Which brought Pinkie to Raspberry and Thorax. The two just so happened to be at a Planning Meeting at Sugarcube Corner.

“-and then I was thinking you’d move in?”

“Won’t they ask questions?”

“Dude, I’m me. There, the media  _ always  _ ask questions about me-”

“But wouldn’t the guy owning the  _ building  _ ask?”

Pinkie stepped in between them. She leaned heavily on the table, tilting her head to face in Raspberry’s direction.

The pink alicorn Traveler smiled. “Yes Pinkie?”

Pinkie pouted. “I’m not the best party pony anymore.”

Raspberry frowned, patting Pinkie’s poofy mane.

The party pony’s lower lip wobbled. “What am I supposed to do without that? Being the best party pony is...it‘s...it’s my whole thing!”

“You’re not nearly so one-dimensional, Pinkamena Diane Pie.” Raspberry assured. Her tone also added a bit of challenge to the words.

“B-but what do?” She pleaded.

Raspberry patted Pinkie’s head again. Pinkie threw herself into Raspberry’s hooves, sobbing loudly.

Nopony at Sugarcube Corner paid any mind. They were well used to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

Raspberry was used to the crying fits, having babysat for most of her life. She brushed a hoof assuringly on Pinkie’s back.

“Pinkie, I promise. This  _ will _ get better. But it’ll get worse first-” Raspberry assured.

“Worse?!” Pinkie day up. Her cheeks were stained with bright blue tear tracks. “How can it get  _ worse _ ?!”

“But it gets  _ better _ !” Raspberry promised. She did all the motions for a Pinkie Promise. “So much better, I think you’ll find your whole life changed.”

But the pink pony didn’t listen.

She was stuck on  _ ‘worse’ _ .

“I’ll be a  _ worse  _ party pony!” Pinkie cried, running out from the store.

There was a beat of silence in the store. After the patrons and staff went about business as usual.

Raspberry on the other hoof looked like a deer caught in headlights.

“This hurts. This hurts, Bee.” Raspberry complained. She wrapped her hooves around her stomach. “I feel like she just took my liver.”

“It’s Pinkie. She may  _ have _ . We  _ are  _ in Sugarcube Corner.” Thorax noted, quickly. 

Raspberry turned her head, hawking at the coltfriend. “You did not just make a cupcake reference.”

Thorax nodded, proud and unashamed. “I did.”

“ _ Do not  _ make a Cupcake reference right now.” Raspberry’s complaining was ruined by the smile on her face. “Not while we’re in Sugarcube Corner.”

Thorax just grinned like an idiot.

Raspberry laughed. “I hate you.”

Thorax leaned over, kissing her face. Raspberry groaned, smiling but trying to pull away.

“We need to leave.”

“No we don’t.”

“Yeah we don’t.” Raspberry dramatically sighed. She went back to The colored folders in front of her. “Let’s finish the fucking meeting.”

Thorax just laughed. He opened up a green folder, leading through it. “Did you ever see the River Song pony again?”

“Nah, figure I’d let her suffer in the Crystal Empire by herself.” Raspberry answered, blithely. She made notes on the blue folder she held. “I wanna talk to Killjoy first. Tell her what the Plan is.”

“Think she can handle it?” Thorax asked. Looking at some of the things in these folders, he wasn’t entirely sure  _ he  _ could handle it.

“Handle some sneaking around? Pfft. She’s not just called an assassin cause it’s got  _ ‘ass’ _ in it.” Raspberry snarked. She wrote a paragraph on the folder. “Though that was why she wanted to be one in the first place. Ah, seven-year-old Darcy was so cute.”

Thorax blinked. He wanted to make a comment about seven year olds wanting to be assassins, but he was a changeling. That was kinda their whole thing under Queen Chrysalis. He himself had gone through the training to kill somepony before they could cry out for help. He was just shit at it. 

Raspberry was in no hurry to correct his training. Nor to shame him for his inability to kill. Killjoy has just always been good at it. They didn’t need Thorax to know. Thorax didn’t  _ want _ to know. But sometimes, he wanted to do whatever it took to help.

“But...what about the cameras?”

Raspberry smiled, proud at him. “Those shouldn’t be an issue if Killjoy does it right.”

“Magic help?”

“Magic help, yes.” Raspberry closed the folder. She lifted up all the folders in her magic, tucking them away into her Bag. “Let’s go find my sister who’s probably half drunk under her couch- again.”

Thorax nodded. He climbed down from the table. “Hey. She never comes to the meetings. Do you keep setting them up so we can have dates?”

Raspberry smirked. “...no.”

Thorax smirked right back.

He was proud.

He’d gotten Raspberry to forget (at least for now) that Pinkie had run away from her in tears. 

==CAH==

Raspberry was indeed right that it got better before it got worse.

So much so that the hungover Killjoy just had to see how it all imploded. Same for the rest of the kids at the Stardust Home ( _ still nameless! Honestly, why hasn’t Morgan listened to Thorax’s suggestions of naming it ‘Phil’?!) _

Pinkie had sung herself an inspirational power ballad. When done she challenged Cheese Sandwich to a goof-off. The winner would host Rainbow Dash’s birth-aversary bash

Now it was all going well. Twilight was making sure everypony followed the rulebook-  _ (“She actually has a goof off rulebook?” “Are you kidding? Twilight can find a rulebook for everything!”)  _ which kept everything above board.

But it changed quite rapidly.

Pinkie was in the swing of an upbeat song. Strung up high on a pinata made to look like a rainbow cake fell apart. It collapsed onto Rainbow Dash. Worse yet, she saw in the distant crowd that a young blue pegasus was looking disappointed. Raspberry patted her daughter’s head.

Pinkie’s eyes flashed with a discolored rainbow.

“Rainbow’s not having the best party ever! And I...I forgot to let Dynamite help. I... I broke the Pinkie Party Promise!  _ Stop _ !” She screamed. Cheese Sandwich turned to her. “The goof off is  _ off _ !”

“But I haven’t named a winner.” Rainbow Dash reminded her.

“You don’t have to. I forfeit.” Pinkie stated. “Which means... Cheese Sandwich wins.”

Cheese laughed, but it changed to a confused sigh. “...I do?”

“Yes. You get to headline Rainbow Dash’s party.” Pinkie completed the motions for her Pinkie Promise.

Twilight “But, what about you, Pinkie?” Twilight pointed out.

“I...” Pinkie shook her head. “I  _ don’t _ .”

==CAH==

She did.

After her display at the goof-offs, Pinkie packed up shop. She had cart fully ready to leave Ponyville with.

Raspberry and Dynamite went with the rest of Pinkie’s friends. 

They pleaded and pleaded with her to stay.

“You can’t go, Pinkie.” Raspberry pleaded.

“You were right, Raspberry. It did get worse, but now it’s better.” Pinkie replied, her eyes watering.

Yeah that didn’t help.

“But don’t you get it? You’re  _ both _ super duper party ponies. Sure, Cheese Sandwich is a great  _ guest _ party pony, but you’re Ponyville’s  _ permanent _ party pony. Nopony could ever take your place, and we could never have a party without you.” Dash 

“Rainbow Dash is right.” Everypony turned to see Cheese Sandwich walking up to the group. “I never meant to take your place in Ponyville. I just wanted to show  _ you _ what a great party pony I am, Pinkie.”

“Why me?” Pinkie asked him.

_ “Well...I fear I told a little fib about my pony past.”  _ Cheese began to sing. Which as we all know at this point, made Raspberry’s day.  _ “I hope that when you hear the truth, you will not be aghast. I wasn’t quite the super party pony like I claimed. The fact is that I was so shy, nopony knew my name. I stumbled into Ponyville one afternoon by chance and found the biggest ever celebration party dance! Everything was perfect, cheer was filling up the place. And I saw that everypony had a smile upon their face. I vowed that day to change my life, the past I did set free. For now Cheese Sandwich was a party pony full of glee. A super duper party pony- that’s what I became! I traveled all Equestria, and all did know my name. But that never would have happened on my own, I’ll tell you why. For the one who threw that party, it was you, Pinkie Pie.” _

“Me?” Pinkie gasped

“Yes!”

“Hah, really?!”

“Really!”

“So  _ I _ was the pony that threw the awesomely spectacular party that inspired you to become an awesome spectacular party thrower?” 

“Swear on Camembert!”

“Enough with the warm fuzzy stuff, you two.” Dash scolded, pushing herself between the two party ponies. “It’s  _ my  _ birth-iversary, and you gotta throw me a bash!”

“Not just us!” Pinkie remembered. She turned to the smallest of the little group. “I promised that Dynamite would get to help with the party.”

The filly beamed.

“Really?” Cheese asked her. Dynamite nodded excitedly. “Well then of course you can help!”

“What do ya got for us, Dynamite?” Pinkie asked.

“Well I had to figure it out myself. Aunt Killjoy said that’s how the best ones were made- by inexperienced hooves.” Dynamite explained. Dynamite held up a big wrapped box. 

Pinkie squee’d, throwing the box open. She and Cheese gawked at the device inside.

All the rest of the ponies just saw a bright light shining from the box onto the party ponies.

Raspberry held back a tired sigh. She would have to kill her sister again.

“This is perfect!” Pinkie praised.

“It is?!” Dynamite cheered, her smile wide.

Okay so maybe not murder...torture. Killjoy would be tortured...Raspberry needed a lot of help with planning the next event, which would require Killjoy putting in more work than necessary.

“Let’s go!” Cheese announced.

_ “Super duper party ponies- that is me and you! A party thrown by one is good, but not as great as two. Come on and let’s join forces, have twice the expertise. Now let’s all go to the party planned by Pinkie Pie and Cheese!” _

==CAH==

When raising children, one should be ready for anything.

Like one becoming really, really good at explosives. 

Raspberry tended to take those sorts of skills as red flags. It happened with Killjoy and she hadn’t been wrong. 

Then again it was Equestria. Maybe it wasn’t a real red flag problem. That didn’t make it any less concerning. 

At the party for Rainbow Dash, Dynamite was setting it up with the party ponies.

Raspberry, Thorax, and Killjoy watched with varying degrees of concern. Their kids were running among the party goers, enjoying what Cheese and Pinkie had to offer. 

“What. The fuh. Did our bastard child create.” Raspberry asked in monotone.

“Bastard child?” Thorax countered, confused.

“All children are bastards. Answer the question.” Raspberry prompted.

“Looks like...she built something to ex-”

“Not helpful.” Raspberry leaned forward, looking past Thorax. “Minion, what did my bastard child create?”

“Bomb but it shoots out fireworks and confetti, and I think they’ll make Rainbow Dash’s face if not her name.” Killjoy supplied.

Raspberry leaned back. “Damn...That’s cool.”

“But- but it explodes! I wasn’t wrong!” Thorax reminded.

Both sisters scoffed.

“You didn’t add flair.” Killjoy dismissed. “Like it _ ‘explodes with style’. _ ”

“Well  _ sorry  _ for not getting your weird human humor.” Thorax argued. He sat back, crossing his hooves over his chest.

“All right, everypony!” Cheese announced. “We are here to celebrate the birthday-”

“...and anniversary-” Pinkie supplied. 

Pinkie Pie and Cheese motioned with their hooves to the birthday girl. “...of Rainbow Dash!”

“Hey, everypony!” Dash greeted the crowd. Who’s ready to get their party on?! Hit it!”

Dynamite did so.

Her parents watched her device flying up towards the air.

In an aptly colorful display, it showed off Rainbow’s cutie mark, name, face, and the words  _ ‘party!’ _

Both parents had to admit, it was impressive.

Especially when not even ten minutes later as Pinkie received the legendary Boneless the Rubber Chicken, they heard the excited shouting of somepony getting their cutiemark.


	15. Quest: Part Of A Complete Breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a lot of Fallout references. There’s been a lot of thought put into this, and research going back almost a year. Basically since the birth of the idea of the character Waffle. 
> 
> If you get them, awesome! Please comment on your favorite. If you don’t, boo.

Queen Thorne was a very busy changeling queen. She arguably had the most to do in her reign, even from an early start. Her days were filled mostly with keeping peace both inside her hive and outside of it. You would think there wouldn’t be much. Her hive was miles away from any sort of other population. They could provide their own foods now, with only rarely needed trade. Being queen should be easy.

There was the business of an entire country only knowing them as deceitful liars, which was a given. Could it be helped that changelings had been born into that life, never being given a choice for otherwise? Chameleons changed too. Why was no one hating on them, huh?

Changelings were different now. They were more peaceful, more like those colorful ponies Thorne’s mother had so hated. Changelings had worked to be more friendly seeming to their neighbors. Thorne had to make some sort of peace between their races before the Equestria Games.

There were two changelings that made that job just a little bit harder.

Thorne was sitting on her throne. It wasn’t a proper scary throne like Chrysalis had. She was reading a letter, delivered by a very dependable delivery pony.

Waffle had been in the room at this time. She could see the card in her Queen’s hooves. It had a picture of a purple berry on the back, and letters in bright sparkle.  _ DYNAMITE BERRY’S CUTE-CEAÑERA _ !

She had learned a new word. Because she had so much room in her head, she could definitely ask for the definition. 

“Queen Thorne, what’s a cute-ceañera?” Waffle asked the Queen.

“It’s a party for ponies to celebrate finally being good at...something.” Thorne replied. “Whenever they find their special talent, they get a cutiemark.”

“They get a sticker when they’re special?” Waffle asked.

Never did we say she would  _ retain _ the definition. Just that there was room for it. 

Thorne pointedly didn’t bother correcting Waffle. She had learned over the months that her energy was better spent on literally anything else.

Waffle took that as a sign she was right.

_ Quest Added! _

_ Quest: Part of A Complete Breakfast _

_ Objective: Learn what makes you special through cutiemarks _

==CAH==

The thing about quests is you should never go about it alone. You need someone to go with you! Friendships are an important thing. Waffle was taught that friendship was a myth. At best, a friend could be used as a meat shield. They would always be there to take the hit for you! 

_ That’s what my mama taught me! _

The best kind of friend was one that seemed basically invincible, lacks any sense of fear or reason! Also, in the event of an emergency, they could serve as food.

Waffle knew one such changeling.

Her brother, Wildberry Poptart!

The purple/blue changeling was the perfect changeling to go along with Waffle for her quest. She didn’t even have to really explain anything before he was going along with it. 

That being said, Waffle had to explain herself as they walked in the Badlands outside the Hive. The lands that had seen much better days since the Great Betrayer had used her magic to make everything look nice. There were flowers now!

Waffle still had to explain everything to Poptart. He was her brother. Friends- especially brothers- would always take the hit for you, but it never hurts to push them in the right direction.

“So...we don’t have special talents?” Poptart gawked, his whole world being shaken by this. This was the biggest revelation he’d ever had in his life. And he had heard about wildberry poptarts.

“Well I think we do! We just gotta find them.” Waffle stated confidently.

“Waffle. You’re a genius.” Poptart praised with the wide eye view of reverence.

“I AM the brains of the two of us.” Waffle reminded him, puffing her chest proudly.

Poptart smiled in pride. His sister was the smartest changeling he had ever known. Sure she couldn’t add count to ten but like...that was advanced stuff. Noling had that many hooves to count! How is anyling supposed to be able to count that high?

“Where do we check first?” Poptart wondered.

“I don’t know.” Waffle sat down, scratching at her head.

Poptart copied his sister, scratching at the top of his head.

They stood there thinking for a long time. 

Like...a really long time.

Such a long time that it’s actually sad to say the number outloud.

Waffle gasped in realization at the end of that long wait. “We have neighbors!” 

“We do?” Poptart wondered.

“We do!” Waffle remembered. “I would see them sometimes on patrol. You know, back when we had patrol. They were really far away but it was full of ponies!”

Poptart had no idea they had neighbors. He bet they were super nice ponies. They must’ve been nice, if Pharynx had them on the patrol route.

==CAH==

Our Town was a really, really nice place. If you didn’t know what color was. Or what nice was. Or what places were. Basically if you had never been anywhere else in your life, you would think it was nice.

Waffle and Poptart had been places. They still liked Our Town.

The town wasn’t a big town. It had two rows of houses, both facing each other. All the houses were all drab and dull. The ponies around seemed bright and colorful, like all ponies did. Something about them just seemed less colorful. Maybe, it had something to do with everypony having the same cutiemark.

“Did you know ponies could have the same cutiemarks as each other?” Waffle asked Poptart.

The purple/blue changeling shook his head. “I didn’t even know about cutiemarks this morning. Much less that they could be the same.”

The ponies noticed their latest visitors quite fast. Given they were changelings and not ponies, and given that they were used to being friendly to ponies and not changelings, they were worried about them. One of the ponies alerted the village leader.

Starlight approached the two changelings. Her polite demeanor didn’t change just because the visitors weren’t the usual target audience. “Welcome! I’m so pleased to have you here.”

Waffle and Poptart smiled widely. “Hi! I’m Waffle and this is my brother, Wildberry Poptart!”

“I like Poptart though.” Poptart introduced.

Starlight didn’t know changelings could have brothers. Or that they could tell each other apart enough for that. Well, before their change. It had been big news all over Equestria. Especially considering the Princesses had been involved. “So! How did you hear of our little village?”

“I used to patrol it for danger.” Waffle reported blatantly. “Pharynx said ‘ _ do it until danger strikes!’ _ Only you never striked very hard, so I went about my day.”

Starlight squinted at the orange changeling. She had remembered seeing something around the village some months ago. She had thought it something innocuous, a forest animal lost it’s way. She had fired spells at it to get rid of it. She was certain she had killed whatever she hit. If it was the changeling standing in front of her, then Starlight must’ve been holding back a lot more than she thought.

Like Waffle had said. Starlight’s hit hadn’t hit very hard. So after being hit, Waffle stood back up and went about her day.

“Well, however you found us, we’re happy to have you! We’re happy to have anypony who wants to experience  _ true friendship _ for the first time.”

Waffle figured there were four things she could say to that. She wasn’t good at sarcasm, so that was locked. The other two options...well...they were like red. That meant she would either die, or not complete her quest. The only option left in green was her natural choice and the one she chose without hesitation.

_ Something stupid _

“We don’t care about friendship.” Waffle explained. “We just want to know about cutiemarks.”

“You...don’t know about cutiemarks?” Starlight asked.

“Changelings don’t get them.” Poptart informed her. He pouted. “It’s like...we’re not special.”

“That’s what’s so unique about our village, you see. Around here, we don’t flaunt our special talents because we don’t have any special talents to flaunt.”

Waffle gasped. “You’re not special either?”

Starlight narrowed her eyes at the changeling. She was holding back the urge to blast the changeling with a more powerful blast than last time. “Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village!”

“We don’t have time for a tour.” Poptart told Starlight. “We just wanna know about cutiemarks.”

“ We have no judgements here in our village.” Starlight told him. Each of us was confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks.”

Both changelings blinked. The information was going in. However, like usual, it went straight out the other side. 

“In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your cutie mark. Choose equality as your special talent. Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail. Be your best by never being your best. Conformity will set you free. Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow. You're no better than your friend.”

“But you have one.” Poptart pointed out.

Starlight’s smile was still so easy. “We all have the same one. So nopony is better than the others.”

Waffle thought about it. “We’re gonna go now.” She stated. Something about this place was giving her a bad feeling. The kinda feeling that said _ ‘don’t drink the radioactive water’. _

Which of course meant Waffle wanted to try it. Just to see how dangerous it actually was.

_ New Quest Added! _ A tiny pony in Waffle’s head decreed.  _ Quest: Starlight’s Village _

Waffle decided she would get on that...later.

“Okay then. As long as you promise to come back someday!” Starlight informed them.

“Sure thing!” Waffle promised.

“I wanna hear the tour! It sounds so exciting.” Poptart cheered.

They left Our Town with happy smiles, and ponies waving behind them.

==CAH==

“What did you think?” Poptart asked.

“Isn’t her belief kinda like Queen Chrysalis’?” Waffle asked. “Like...we’re all the same so it doesn’t matter what makes us different. Before our change we were all the same. Now we’re different. I don’t think getting a cutiemark comes with being like Chrysalis.”

_ Poptart will remember that _ . “Wow. That was insightful.” Poptart replied.

“It was!” Waffle cheered. “Still...if ponies can get the same cutiemarks over and over, then why is it a big deal to get one at all?” Waffle asked.

“But we are different. You’re great for the relay race but I was better in the stands cheering.” Poptart explained. “Thorax proved we could all be different so...why don’t we have cutiemarks? But ponies can all have the same ones.”

“Maybe they haven’t changed yet like us!” Waffle gasped. “Like...maybe they start with the equal signs until they grow up and get what makes them special! And that’s when they have the party!” Waffle realized.

Poptart gasped too. Yep, once again, Waffle proved to be the brains of the operation. “No wonder everypony in that village was so sad inside! I could feel their sadness like one of Tymbal’s Feeling Forums.”

“Yeah...I noticed that too.” Waffle actually felt bad for those ponies. Not enough to go back and fix the problem, but enough to feel bad.

As they were walking, the ground beneath them opened up. Waffle and Poptart stopped in their steps as a massive creature climbed out from outside the hole. This thing was big. It was dark purple and blue, with great big claws and yellow eyes, and a blue nose with tentacles on it.

“Hey. Isn’t that a maulwurf?” Poptart asked.

Waffle tilted her head, squinting at it. “Are you?”

The creature roared in their faces.

When the roaring stopped, the two siblings blinked.

“I think that meant yes.” Poptart noted.

Waffle started to grin. It was not a nice grin.

==CAH==

Pharynx heard his trap being sprung.

He flew over to it. Two ponies were kicking inside. A part of him hoped it was the Great Betrayer and her sister. Then he would have a chance to show the new Queen that there was a threat to the Hive! Oh it would be great to prove Thorax wrong that the Great Betrayer was different.

He pulled the burlap bag up. He prepared to drop his captors out. Battling with the Great Betrayer and her sister would be a great chance to prove the changeling might!

“I captured you trespass- oh it’s just you idiots.” Pharynx sneered at the neon orange and purple changelings on the dirt. The two had somehow ended up in some bizarre pretzel like shape.

Waffle beamed. “Hi Pharynx!”

“Pharynx?!” Poptart adjusted from his position to smile at the black changeling. “Hey there, big guy!”

Pharynx sneered, adding a hiss for good measure.

“That hiss means he’s not happy.” Waffle informed Poptart.

Poptart nodded, sagely at the wise advice. “Ah.”

“Did we spoil your hunt again?” Waffle asked, deflating against her brother.

“For your information, I was after the maulwurf.” Pharynx snapped at her.

“What is  _ half-bear, half-mole, half-blueberry? _ ” Waffle asked.

“What...no. I suppose your weaker minds would think of it that way.” Pharynx sneered.

“Oh that thing? It exploded!” Poptart told him.

“What?! How- don’t say it.” Pharynx warned them.

Waffle raised her hoof. Poptart pointed his hoof in excitement at his sister.

“We found bottle caps!” Waffle held up three bottle caps to prove it. “We made good money today, ‘Tart!”

Poptart high-hooved her. “Heck yeah we did! You were a great fighter, Waffle!”

Waffle hugged her brother. “Aww! Thanks. You’re the best brother.”

Rather than deal with any feelings, or the lack of feelings that this loving sibling relationship was giving him, Pharynx untied the trap. He did not want to think about

He pointed in the distance. “Get out of my sight.” He growled.

The changeling siblings weren’t affected by the threat.

“Now.” Pharynx warned.

The two changelings moved quickly to obey. They untangled themselves from their pretzel shape. Without another command, they walked off in the direction of the Hive.

Now Pharynx had to reset his trap.  _ Great _ .

“What can we buy with three bottle caps?” Poptart wondered.

“I have no idea! ...oh! Maybe a  _ fourth _ bottle cap...or a micro fusion cell...or maybe a  _ fifth _ bottle cap!”

Waffle’s stupidity caused by continued brain damage truly shined like a star.

==CAH==

Pharynx blinked at the smoldering pile of green goop, the only thing in sight of the directions Waffle and Poptart gave him.

Pharynx did not know what an aneurism was. Still, he was having one.

==CAH==

Thorne had actually liked the quiet in the Hive. She was able to attend the cute-ceañera without worrying about it. Queen Morgan and Thorax were overjoyed she’d made it for their child’s party.

The blue pegasus had been so excited to get her cutiemark. She had showed it off to everypony at the party. It was...sweet.

Queen Morgan’s sister, Killjoy, liked hearing about how they handled self defense. Thorne had actually been impressed to see a pony with the same manner of protectiveness as Pharynx. It also scared her but she didn’t want to comment on it.

She returned to the Hive expecting quiet. She found Waffle and Poptart sitting in front of her throne.

She hoped they hadn’t blown up anything else. “What have you two been done?”

They gasped in delight. They turned to face her with wide beaming smiles.

“We got bottlecap cutiemarks!” Waffle announced proudly.

She and Poptart showed off their matching cutiemarks. Yeah, they were one short of having two cutiemarks on each side. The bottlecaps were glued on by what was clearly just grape soda.

Thorne stared for a long moment. “...that’s not how you get cutiemarks.”

“Then we did this for nothing?!”

“Darnit!” Poptart smacked his hoof on the floor. “We got so close to finding what made us SPECIAL!”

Thorne huffed. She whispered under her breath “You two are special enough...”

Waffle’s compound eyes went teary. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

A beat. “We don’t speak often.”

“Yeah. So it’s the nicest thing.” Waffle replied, wiping her eyes with her hoof.

Poptart seemed to be on the same level. “We’re special now, Waffle. Queen Thorne thinks we’re special.”

Thorne could leave. She could walk away right now. She could leave, not think about this anymore than she already had. Nopony or ling would blame her. Some would have left sooner.

“I’m gonna go to bed.” Stated Waffle. “I’m tired now.”

“How long do we sleep?” Asked Poptart.

“I’m setting the bar to 24 hours.” Waffle informed.

“Is that the next chapter?” Poptart wondered.

“Sure!” Waffle replied.

The two immediately stood completely still. Thorne wasn’t even sure they were blinking. Just standing there...waiting.

Yep.

They were plenty special.

_ Quest: Part of a Complete Breakfast: Complete! _

_ 2000XP _

_ New Skill Point Available! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, can’t stress enough, this chapter was literally just the crackiest crack that I could crack up. Waffle and Poptart are the dumbest characters I can write while still feeling good about myself. 


	16. Training Time!

Raspberry held up a toy rat.

Cookie prepared to pounce on it. She knelt close to the ground, glaring up at the toy. With a hiss she ran at it. She leapt off the ground.

Raspberry kept the toy rat in place.

The griffon child missed the toy rat. She flailed her arms, trying to reach it. Raspberry tossed the toy rat in the air, letting it drop in reach of her wing. The griffon in body but kitten in brain reached for the toy rat. Fruitless in her goals, the kitten meowed.

Dynamite flew up to her mother’s side. She hovered in the air before landing. At seeing Cookie rolling mournfully on the grass, she laughed. “Still can’t catch a stupid mouse?”

Cookie sat up, glaring sharply at her sister. “Shut up!”

Dynamite made a face. “You’re stupid! You’re stupid!”

“I am NOT!” Cookie hissed. She went into a hunter’s pose, a growl coming out of her beak.

Raspberry dropped the toy rat into her hoof, throwing her arm over Dynamite’s shoulders. “Hey. You’re smarter than you’re sister, right?”

“Yeah!” Dynamite boasted. She added sticking out her tongue at her sister.

“You can fly faster than her, right?” Raspberry asked.

“Yeah!” Dynamite boasted again.

“So you can fly twenty laps around the house, right?”

“Yea- wait what?” Dynamite looked up at her mother. Her red eyes wide in dismay, her jaw dropping.

Raspberry was smiling innocently. The patented mother’s smile, of _‘do what I say or you are grounded’._ “Twenty laps. Around the house. Flying.” She made a gesture of _‘get going’_ with her hoof. “Go.”

Cookie laughed. Dynamite glared at her sister. The griffon- in the greatest act of vengeance an eight year old knew- stuck out her tongue at her sister. The blue pegasus whined. She still went out to obey the orders.

Raspberry smiled back at the giggling griffon. “You’re not off the hook either. Again.” She held the toy rat up in her magic. 

Cookie groaned, but tried once more.

==CAH==

The Cutiemark Crusaders had a special event that they did once a week on Tuesdays. _Tuesdays: Enough Shit Isn’t Going On Today, Do It Tuesday_! Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo would go to Twilight’s library to learn new skills. Apple Bloom would learn potions, after being inspired from working so often with Zecora. Sweetie Belle learned magic, an important skill for any growing unicorn. Scootaloo learned about mechanics, which overtime would help her add upgrades to her scooter.

Twilight Time was the CMC’s new favorite thing. They started doing this not long after Lilac went up north for training. They had heard about their friend getting training from letters, and Lilac’s goodbye before going to Manehattan. They were so jealous at first. Not only did Lilac get to hang out in Babs Seed’s town, she got to learn all these cool skills! That didn’t seem fair.

So they complained to their sisters and pseudo sisters (in one case).

Their sisters went to the closest teacher of those skills in town.

Raspberry declined, saying she was already working with Lilac and her other children.

Their sisters tried again.

Twilight said yes.

So the Cutiemark Crusaders got to learn new things!

However, Dynamite Berry and Dark Justice heard about this training. They watched their mom and sometimes their aunt and rarely their dad leave town for a day. They heard about Dynamite’s friends getting specialized training once a week. They got excited. 

They thought about what skills they could even learn. Dynamite had her cutiemark, but that didn’t really give her much direction outside of explosions=good. Dark Justice didn’t even have that, he had no idea what kind of things he wanted to learn. 

Cookie was the second kid in their family to get Raspberry’s training. All that Cookie got to learn was how to fly. Which to Dynamite, was a basic skill that didn’t even need training, and to Dark Justice seemed like Raspberry just searching for any excuse to not do other works.

He was completely right, not that Raspberry would ever tell.

Raspberry had noticed the kids wanting to be included. 

Her kids had asked something of her. What, was she just going to _sideline them?_ Leave them in the dust to envy their other siblings? Get into a debate with them over which kids Raspberry liked more because of something as fickle as _‘Lilac and Cookie were here first’?_

Unacceptable.

==CAH==

Raspberry approached her kids one Tuesday afternoon. She knew she was already stepping into fun territory, as Dynamite Berry’s friends were all busy at Twilight Time while Justice was a loner anyway. There was a decent chance they would tell her to screw off.

Dynamite landed in front of Raspberry, just completing the twenty laps around the house. Cookie had failed twice in that time to grab the toy rat. She almost had it, but failed to use the wings so Raspberry didn’t see much progress there. Cookie was at least getting creative with other ways to catch the toy rat. Raspberry would have to be more creative in return.

Justice walked out just to laugh at Dynamite. Dynamite shoved his side.

“Hey, Dynamite, Justice?” Raspberry called out to them. She held the toy rat up again for Cookie again. The griffon glared at her elusive prey. “Wanna learn something?”

“I already learned something, I’m _exhausted_!” Dynamite complained, flopping down to the dirt.

“Learn what?” Justice asked.

Cookie leapt for the toy rat. This time she hopped on Raspberry’s shoulders before going for the toy rat. Raspberry moved the toy rat out of range, leading to Cookie landing on the ground.

“I’m gonna give you a logic puzzle. You have to figure out a solution with the options you have in front of you.” Raspberry explained. “Wanna learn how to do stuff like I do?”

The two preteens excitedly jumped in front of their foster mom. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” They cheered.

“Can either of you tell me how I get this cat bird to fly?” Raspberry asked. “I’ll take whatever you can give.”

Justice eyed the toy rat. “Did you try holding it higher?” He asked.

Raspberry nodded.

“Huh.” Justice sat back, rubbing his hoof on his chin.

“Oh! Oh! Let me catch it!” Dynamite pleaded. “I wanna catch it!”

“Would that help Cookie?” Raspberry countered. “Show your work, please.”

“I catch it and then she chases me up really high!” Dynamite explained.

Justice saw that Raspberry was ready to argue against that plan. He stepped in. “Cookie _really_ hates it when Dynamite takes her stuff. She’d probably fly to chase her.”

Raspberry considered it. Cookie was rolling in the grass, just groaning and bemoaning her skills as a hunter. After tossing the toy rat in her hooves again, Raspberry grinned. “Sisterly feud...why hadn’t I considered that yet? It’s how I got Killjoy to do anything.” She tossed the toy to Dynamite, who happily caught it. “Go nuts.”

Dynamite giggled darkly, in that proud way any sibling does when given the chance to annoy their sibling. “HEY COOKIE!”

Cookie stopped rolling in the grass. She turned to her sister. Seeing Dynamite’s excited waving of Cookie’s toy, her eyes thinned into that classic cat rage. “MINE!”

Dynamite responded by flying up into the air. 

Raspberry and Justice watched with bemusement as Cookie chased the shadow on the ground. The griffon figured out very quickly that she wouldn’t get her toy back this way. She pushed down on her ground. To the amazement of her mother, her wings began to buzz. Cookie pushed herself off the ground, clumsy flying after her sister. 

“I’m tempted to give you money for this.” Raspberry noted.

Justice smiled. He held up a hoof.

Raspberry smirked. For the audacity of asking for money, she slipped two bits into his hoof.

When Dynamite and Cookie eventually touched down, Raspberry gave Dynamite two bits and gave Cookie a biscuit.

“You did a good job.” Raspberry praised. “Cookie, go inside and brag to your dad. Better yet- fly into him.”

Cookie beamed. “He would be surprised!” She ran into the house.

Raspberry turned to the other two. “So...you know how I’m working with Lilac in Manehattan right?” The two kids nodded. “Wanna learn more stuff?”

They couldn’t agree faster.

==CAH==

The next day at school, Dynamite was explaining excitedly to her friends what she would be learning.

“She was gonna show me all the ways I can make explosions!” Dynamite cheered. “And like, there are a lot! We did a baking soda volcano. Did you know that was a thing? I didn’t. We exploded soda with mints! MINTS!”

“Mints can make stuff explode?” Scootaloo asked, eyes going wide. “I will never eat another mint again.”

Dynamite nodded, sagely agreeing. She was pretty sure Thorax was still cleaning soda from his wings. 

“That’s so cool! Now it’s like you’re learning new skills just like us!” Apple Bloom cheered. She glared across the playground at their schoolyard bullies. “Unlike _some_ ponies Ah know.”

Dynamite glanced in the direction of the bullies. Yeah, they were getting attention from everypony else at the school. What did that matter? Dynamite was learning how to blow stuff up with stuff from the kitchen. Yeah Justice was learning stuff too, what did that matter? “Hey is Sweetie Belle okay?”

Scootaloo waved a hoof over Sweetie‘s face. “Yeah, she’s just daydreaming again.”

Dynamite shrugged.

She would’ve asked more, or talked more about her cool new training when the bullies came over.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were their usual annoying selves, right up until the Cutiemark Crusaders admitted to spending time with Princess Twilight.

“Hey! My mom is a princess too!”

“Well yeah but Ms Raspberry doesn’t count. She works with Ms Cheerilee.” Diamond Tiara dismissed. “Princess Twilight is _cool_.”

Which okay, yeah, Dynamite understood that. 

==CAH==

The Cutiemark Crusaders gained popularity after everypony found out they hung out with a princess. The three were waited on, hoof and...uh...other hoof? Dynamite was learning human analogies, not all of them crossed over.

Dynamite got less excited to learn from Raspberry as the week went on. Raspberry taught the preteens all that she could. Justice was taking in all of it. Raspberry taught them about all the things she used to be a crime fighter, like the ponies in the police books. Raspberry taught Dynamite so many new ways to enjoy her special talent.

Yet nopony at school was giving her praise for it. But they praised her friends. That wasn’t fair!

Dynamite wondered why she was trying, if no pony was gonna give her attention for it.

==CAH==

Those feelings weren’t calmed by Saturday. The Cutiemark Crusaders were told by Diamond Tiara that everypony invited themselves to the next Twilight Time. Twilight Time was a weekly thing, and the CMC had to keep the attention on them! Sweetie Belle took the initiative to invite Twilight to a local hay burger restaurant.

Everything was going...well it was going. Sweetie Belle had only invited a short group of goals, only their whole class came instead. She scolded the large group, so they just watched from the windows. 

Twilight on the other hoof had a happy lunch with her students and Dynamite Berry. Everything was going great. Until Pinkie Pie showed up, that is.

The party pony rushed into the hayburger joint. She looked more manic than usual. “Twilight! What are you doing _here_?” Pinkie asked.

The purple alicorn beamed at her friend, finishing her drink. “I know! I’ve been so busy I forgot how delicious everything-”

“You mean like that time you forgot you were supposed to distract Raspberry so she didn’t know I was finishing up her birthday party?” Pinkie asked. “And that time is today.”

Twilight yelped. “What?! That was _today?”_

“That’s what I said.” Pinkie replied. She turned to Scootaloo. “I did say that right?”

Scootaloo nodded.

“Good!” Pinkie cheered.

“Hold on. Her birthday is tomorrow!” Dynamite countered. “How can the party be today?”

“Yeah! Twilight doesn’t have to go!” Sweetie Belle agreed with her friend.

Pinkie giggled. “That’s the point, sillies! Raspberry won’t expect it if it comes today...or maybe she will. But she definitely will if Twilight’s not distracting her.”

“But can’t Thorax do it?” Sweetie Belle asked, desperate to keep her popularity while it was in range.

Pinkie laughed. “Pfft, HA! Thorax can’t lie to Raspberry! Everypony knows _that_.”

“Twilight can’t really do that either.” Apple Bloom countered. 

“Hey.” Twilight whined, but didn’t argue. “I’m not lying to her. We’re working on a project. It’s the only thing that really stops her from paying attention. Thanks for the reminder, Pinkie.”

“You’re welcome, Twilight!” Pinkie cheered. She walked out the door, pausing to look out the window. The foals there ducked to avoid being seen. Pinkie would’ve made a comment before running out to finish party planning.

Twilight followed after the party pony. Though she didn’t make it far before tripping over one excited goal that wanted an autograph.

Dynamite was annoyed beyond comprehension. How had her mom messed this up? Raspberry wasn’t even _here_ but she was ruining Dynamite’s chance to be popular!

“You seriously all want _my_ autograph?” Twilight asked the large group of excited foals outside. “Okay, I’ll sign just a couple more for you, but then I really must go find Raspberry.”

“Wow, to think I’ve been to the Hay Burger so many times, never knowing it’s a regular hangout for a princess!” Pipsqueak cheered.

“This isn’t my regular hangout. I’m only here to be with them.” Twilight excused, trying to leave again. 

“You mean, Princess Twilight decides where it’s cool to go based on where _they_ go?” Pipsqueak asked, an unknowing voice for the foals. 

Twilight didn’t deny it. She smiled once more at the CMC and Dynamite. “Thanks, guys, this was fun! See ya around!”

She ran off towards the library. 

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Dynamite managed to keep their popularity. But it was leaving a sour taste in Dynamite’s mouth. 

==CAH==

Raspberry had found out about the party, to the surprise of nopony. 

She was happily explaining how she figured it out to Justice. Dynamite was pouting in a corner. What made it more upsetting was that when Raspberry explained it, it made so much _sense._ Of course Raspberry would notice Thorax conveniently leave town or that Twilight wanted to work on their project so desperately all of a sudden.

She didn’t like it. It annoyed Dynamite. It annoyed her that things looked so _easy._ That everypony was getting attention except _her_.

Right now, Dynamite was slumping in a corner at her house. Pinkie had gone all out for the party, probably to make up for the birthdays she missed because Raspberry wasn’t in Equestria for them. Dynamite watched as so many ponies were celebrating Raspberry Stardust. They were gathered around the dinner table. Justice had moved over to talk to Killjoy, who was exchanging wide grins with her sister. 

Cookie and Pinkie seemed to be having a contest on who could eat the most cupcakes in under a minute. The Cutiemark Crusaders were quietly arguing on the couch, trying to argue about how to handle their popularity. They didn’t even try to include Dynamite. Their sisters were all watching Pinkie and Cookie, laughing. 

Twilight was talking to Raspberry, but by the looks of it Twilight wasn’t having fun in the conversation.

Dynamite could only hear little bits of it. _“It’s safer to fall from 10 miles high than 10 stories because on average you’ll live longer. You live in a tree, right? Trees live underground and use the above part as a snorkel. If you microwave something, you are just shaking it really hard on the atomic level. Flamethrowers are technically a squirt gun.”_

She wouldn’t like it either.

Twilight looked ready to scream. Dynamite wondered why the princess passed up hanging out with the Cutiemark Crusaders over this party. At least in the hay burger joint they were giving Twilight a relaxing afternoon.

“Okay, Pinks, really-” Raspberry spoke up. “There’s only so long that I can tell Twilight disquieting true facts before they start disturbing me too. What’s the next part of the party?”

“Not everypony’s here yet.” Pinkie replied happily. She was patting Cookie on the back, who was chewing on a final cupcake.

Raspberry had a face of confusion.

Somepony opened the front door. Everypony turned to it. Raspberry got out of her chair to get a peek.

What she saw had her surprised, at long last. Pinkie had succeeded.

“Lilac!” The Cutiemark Crusaders cheered.

Their friend had been gone over a month. It wasn’t long but she looked different. Manehattan has seemingly aged her from pre-teen to a genuine teenager. She stood taller, had a different confidence to her steps that wasn’t there before. She was _cool._

Dynamite hated this whole week.

==CAH==

It came to a head on Tuesday. Dynamite was going into another Raspberry Time. She hadn’t been invited to the hang out at Diamond Tiara’s house. The Crusaders hadn’t even thought to invite her, more insulting. They _had_ invited Lilac. Funny that. Pity she went out of town after her mom’s birthday.

Dynamite was left behind.

She had gone home, not really having anywhere else to go. 

Her mom was already talking to Justice. Laid out in front of them were white notecards and colored sharpies. Raspberry was explaining a long complicated plot. Dynamite was certain it was from a book Justice had read over the week. Dynamite hadn’t read it. In protest.

Thorax walked up to Dynamite, beaming. Cookie flew behind him, landing on his shoulders. Dynamite had helped her fly. Was she given any credit? No.

“Hey Dynamite!” Thorax cheered. “Did you want something to drink-”

“Shut up!” Dynamite snapped. She flew off towards her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

She threw herself onto her bed, smashing her face against the pillow. 

There was barely time to start screaming into it before somepony knocked on the door.

“GO AWAY!” Dynamite screamed.

 _“But wouldn’t it be great to yell at my face?”_ Raspberry countered.

Dynamite had to admit, it did sound great. However Raspberry suggested it so it was evil and the wrong choice. The door opened all the same.

She walked in, kneeling by the bed. Dynamite was happy her face was in the pillow so she didn’t have to see the princess’ stupid face.

Raspberry didn’t make any comments about it. “Okay. My birthday went too well, something had to go wrong. Commence the yelling.” She invited the hate, called for every bad feeling broiling in Dynamite’s head.

She didn’t lift her face from her pillow. “You ruined everything.”

Raspberry said nothing.

“Everypony was so excited, and I was gonna be cool for once, but then they said you were boring and normal and then I wasn’t popular and nopony paid attention to me but everypony loves Twilight and nopony liked-” Dynamite babbled. Her words were starting to get heavy as tears came to her eyes. She let them soak into her pillows.

Raspberry climbed onto the bed. She let her wing drape over Dynamite’s back, holding the sobbing filly to her side. “The Twilight Time thing?”

Dynamite mumbled an affirmative. 

“Ah, okay.” Raspberry let out a small sigh. “I should have known better...you’re exactly like Killjoy.”

“Wha’?” Dynamite sniffled.

“Wanna learn how to blow them up?” Raspberry asked.

Dynamite turned her head, eyes wide.

“Yeah you wanna learn how to blow them up.” Raspberry blew out a breath. “It’s only fair. I told Killjoy not to kill people at your age, and she got upset cause there was nothing to do. So wanna learn how to blow shit up?”

“Yes!” Dynamite cheered.

Raspberry grinned wide.

==CAH==

An explosion rocked the small backyard.

Everypony in the family cheered. Dynamite excitedly beamed at them, happy at the praise. Justice and Cookie was excited too, beaming with their dad. They were shaking like a sugar hyped Pinkie Pie. All of them were wearing speciality headphones. Raspberry said it protected their ears. They could all hear each other, which Dynamite thought was a bonus. She could hear all of them.

Raspberry used her magic to float over another cardboard box, a drawing of a classmate of Dynamite’s on the side. Dynamite prepared another explosive. She handed over the box to Raspberry.

Killjoy was hovering above her sister. “You never let me kill kids.”

“Not actually kids, doesn’t actually count.” Raspberry countered. “Bomb ready, Dynamite.”

“Boom in five, four-” Dynamite warned, hopping in place with excitement. “Three, two, one!” Dynamite pressed down on the trigger.

The box exploded, along with all the fruit inside it. Mashed up fruits projected onto the family, hitting them with a surprising amount of coverage. Everypony cheered again. It was macabre. It was dark. They were cheering at Dynamite blowing stuff up, stuff dressed up as children. It was not the sort of thing one did in Equestria.

But they were Stardusts. As a rule, they were all dark as fuck. Especially the griffon who was cheering about being hit with _‘pony guts’._ They were weird. They were the outcasts. They were the creatures nopony wanted to hang out with. But they had each other.

Later, Dynamite would write a diary entry on the back page of the entry written by the Cutiemark Crusaders. 

_So Twilight told me to write something down in this diary. Mom told me to write about something big that happened to me, and how I was changed by it. She makes me write reports like that all the time. She’ll teach me something then ask me to prove that I learned something. She’s weird like that. That’s what everypony at school says. For a while I agreed with them. Mom was really, really weird, like too weird._

_But then I thought I was weird too. Nopony at school liked me either, just cause she was my mom. She’s only been my mom for a few months too- but she knew exactly what_ _ I needed to feel better. _

_ After I told her nopony liked me, Mom got everyone in the family to watch me blow up fruit. She even taught me new ways to do it. It was so cool! They cheered for me, for what made me special, what made me unique. Nopony else is like me, except my family. Which they are. _

_ (Even if Cookie is annoying now that she learned how to fly.) _


	17. The Check-In

Lilac thought she was actually doing really well.

She was doing better with her weapons training. Guns and knives were an uphill climb, Lilac just couldn’t get the hang of them. Hand-to-Hand was mire her forte. Her mom and aunt write this off as Lilac’s dragon instinct, as her claws of course were more natural to use. But she wouldn’t be a dragon everywhere, so Lilac had to learn other weapons. 

Aunt Killjoy was excited to see Lilac gaining skill in knives. Once Lilac worked with smaller forms of knives, she was getting skilled at it. Lilac was bursting with pride to hear the praise. All her work to getting this training was paying off. Killjoy kept telling jokes about  _ ‘passing the torch’ _ . Lilac was half convinced the phrase was fake. Her aunt was the type for that, and her mom would encourage any sort of pun.

Though whether it was a pun or not, it felt good to be included in the family business. Lilac had been included in some of her mother’s travels before: _How To Train Your Dragon_ (at Lilac’s request), _Rise of the Guardians,_ a few trips that were mainly because Lilac couldn’t be left home alone with Tracy, and a quick jaunt in _Doctor Who_. After that trip, her mom had benched Lilac.

Even though any danger Lilac had been in was from forces nobody had predicted. She had been useful! She wanted to be useful again. Lilac remembered that despite the dangers, there had been fun. Lilac had remembered how happy being there made her mom. Everything there was so stressful and panicked, but her mom had made it all fun. Lilac wanted to be more included in that. She wanted to see other times where her mom could smile, especially with her aunt and dad around.

If that meant Lilac had to learn hand-to-hand combat and knives, then she would learn it.

Manehatten was different from the rough human cities. Sure it was dangerous to live there alone, but it was easier. Cushy. Lilac remembered being taunted by other dragons, ten years ago. They had laughed at her for living the cushy life of a pony. Now Lilac was sitting in a tree, trying to live like a human.

She had gotten a pet bird out of it. The experience was worth it.

_ (Her mom kept making grandma jokes. Lilac hadn’t known that adopting a pet bird didn’t  _ actually  _ make her a mother, she was  _ four! _ ) _

_ (Yes she kept Peewee’s birdhouse stocked with treats. What of it?) _

Lilac was using the knife to slice skin off an apple. She was supposed to make a picture of something using the knife. Her aunt encouraged the knife as a brush. It was supposed to give Lilac practice on force. 

_ ‘Use enough force to cut, not to slice. Sometimes you gotta hold a knife against somebody until you take him down, or one of us comes to save you.’ _

Lilac didn’t like thinking about holding a knife to someone’s throat. She understood the necessity. She had watched her mom do it a few times. Once or twice, Lilac had a knife to her own throat. She wouldn’t want to make any mistakes with anybody.

And if Lilac couldn’t complete this assignment, her aunt would kick her ass in training. She was still sore from last time. Those dragons from a decade ago had tried/failed to make Lilac  _ ‘tough’ _ like a dragon, Aunt Killjoy would make those dragons fun screaming back to their mamas. Pity that Lilac’s mama was always on Killjoy’s side.

Lilac twitched at the wrong moment. She sliced off a chunk of apple, ruining the picture.  _ Damn it _ ! Lilac angrily threw the apple aside. It fell from the tree, bouncing on the ground.

Double damn. Lilac would have to clean it before eating it. Had dirt gotten on the skinned part? That would use up some of her water. 

She didn’t get the chance to use up said water. A figure came out from a bush, grabbing the apple from the ground. Lilac sat up, watching the pony shake off the dirt with their hoodie. 

“Hey! That’s mine!” Lilac argued.

The pony darted off, taking the apple with them. Lilac had gotten training for this. She leapt off from the tree before giving chase.

The pony was small, smaller than Lilac. She could barely make out the pale yellow coat with a mane of two dark shades of brown, as the pony wore a gray hoodie and skirt. Ponies rarely wore clothing, except for the upper classes of Manehattan. Even then it was usually just a scarf or hat. Why would they wear a skirt too?

_ To hide a cutiemark or lack of one.  _ Lilac reasoned.

The pony may be small like a foal but Lilac refused to be defeated. She chased the foal down. The foal hadn’t flown away or even tried, so she wasn’t a pegasus. She hadn’t tried using any magic either. An earth pony? Lilac should get prepared for that. 

The foal cut into an alley. Lilac had to make the sharp turn. 

There was a difficult block to get through in the middle of the alley. The foal escaped thanks to a small hole in the fence. Lilac couldn’t fit herself in it. 

The foal didn’t get through unscatched. At first, Lilac thought a clump of the foal’s mane had fallen. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a scarf. A multi shaded brown scarf, caught on the fence.

Lilac picked up the scarf. The material was soft- something special. Lilac couldn’t find a tag or brand symbol on it. She could check in with Coco Pommel for where the scarf might’ve come from. She tucked the scarf into her bag. 

Time to work for a living. 

==CAH==

The fashionista was checking the scarf over, rubbing her hoof along the fabric. Lilac nervously fiddled with her claws.

Her mom had told Lilac it was important to build a network in these cities. People you could trust to hide you, or warn you of danger, or even to help you solve problems that you couldn’t handle alone. Lilac knew very little about fabrics, and it would take too long to ask Rarity. Coco Pommel was a great pony regardless- much better than a  _ ‘second choice’  _ thing.

“Any idea who could’ve made it?” Lilac asked.

Coco lowered the scarf. She shook her head. “Sorry, Lilac. I have no idea who could have made this. It’s very pretty- somepony out a  _ lot  _ of work into it. Where did you find it?” She handed the scarf back over.

Lilac held it. “Somepony was running in the street, the scarf fell off.” She didn’t want to admit to having chased the foal until the scarf fell off. “It just feels really important.”

Coco gave Lilac an apologetic smile. Lilac wanted to shrug it off- say something her aunt or mom would’ve said, like the scarf was hers now. But Lilac disagreed. This scarf was cared for, it matched that foal’s mane and was too soft to have been a simple purchase. 

Somepony put care into this article of clothing. Lilac wanted to find them before her dad came by later that day. 

“Thanks for trying.” Lilac walked out of Coco’s office.

“Goodbye!” Coco waved.

Her next visit was to Babs Seed. The head of the Manehattan Cutie Mark Crusaders. Lilac had been using Babs Seed as a way of getting to know the city, the filly was already so rough and tumble that Lilac thought Babs would help Lilac get used to the city. So far, Babs was a great friend about it all.

Lilac explained the foal’s description to Babs. Babs was tapping her chin, trying to remember.

“Yeah...I think I know a filly like that.” Babs replied. “I tried approaching her for the CMC awhile ago but she said she already had a cutiemark.”

“She does?” Lilac asked. “I didn’t see it.”

“Yeah, that’s cuz of her skirt.” Babs explained with a roll of her eyes. “Nopony knows who she was before she was on the street. I  _ did  _ here some ponies calling her  _ ‘VC’ _ .”

There was something there. Lilac wanted to see, to figure out the mysteries around that filly.

==CAH==

Lilac sat in her tree- Central Park was still a perfect place to hide away.

She tried to think about how to find that filly. She had been wearing plain clothes, already making her a commodity in Equestria. The clothes were boring and gray, also dirty. This foal wasn’t somepony living in one of the nice apartments. They had to have a family, to get clothes at all, or fabric this soft.

Lilac wanted to give back the scarf. She hadn’t meant to take it...it had been an accident. Lilac shouldn’t have even made chase. It was just an apple. Lilac should’ve let it go. Now she had stolen a scarf. Clearly, she was the worst creature in Manehattan.

Yes she was counting her family that were already in town.

This weekend was Dad’s weekend to visit her. Lilac was excited- Dad made a point to go full tourist with Lilac, who could happily show him all the fun things to do here. Mom and Aunt Killjoy were giving a lecture at the Changeling Integration Meeting about blending in with ponies. Mom got Dad to cave in.

But that wasn’t the point. Dad would find out about the scarf, he’d tell Mom, then Mom would wanna know why, then Lilac would admit about the apple, her aunt would find out and then Lilac would have to do double training while her mom watched and her dad ate food at a crappy restaurant. Lilac hoped her grave had something nice on it.

“Hey!” A voice yelled. And it was angry too.

Lilac looked down from her perch. She had expected a pegasus- Lilac had chosen a good tree for naps and relaxing. Instead, she saw a yellow filly dressed in gray. It was VC. “You!”

“Yeah me!” VC snapped. “You took something that was mine, and I want it BACK!”

Lilac balled up the scarf. “Here you go.” She tossed it down.

VC caught it in an outstretched hoof. She turned her head from the scarf to Lilac. “Wait you just gave it back?”

“Yeah.”

“...I thought I’d have to fight you for it.” VC admitted.

Lilac tilted her head. “Why would I do that? It’s not mine.”

VC blinked. “You stole it from me earlier.”

“No. It got caught on the fence.” Lilac explained. “I didn’t want it getting torn, so I grabbed it. You were already so far away. I’d been searching for you for hours trying to return it.”

VC continued to stare at Lilac, her brown eyes full of confusion. Were the streets really so bad that this filly didn’t understand a simple gesture of kindness? “You were chasing me.”

“That was rude of me, yeah. I’m sorry.” Lilac apologized. “I should’ve just let it go.”

Nothing was making sense to this poor filly. “Dragons aren’t this nice. What- what did you do to it?”

Lilac winced. “Sorry- I’m different though. From them. I’m- I was raised by ponies.”

VC gave Lilac a side-eyed glance of disbelief. She gave Lilac a narrow stare. “Wait...I heard about you. Aren’t you the daughter of Princess Raspberry? What are you doing here in a tree?”

Lilac hopped down from the tree. VC flinched back. Lilac held up her claws. “Sorry- Mom says before I go on any adventures, I have to complete training. Living on the streets is a part of that. You- you ran off with my homework.”

VC was glaring at her now. “Your mom thinks living out here is a  _ joke _ ? Just something you can do for  _ fun _ ?”

“What- no!” Lilac insisted.

“Ponies like you are all the same! You think you can just do whatever you like and ignore how ponies around you feel! Whatever- I’m done with your type!” VC rolled her eyes, about to run off.

Well Lilac wasn’t going to let anypony talk about her mom like that. That wasn’t fair, or nice. “My mom knows how rough it is! My mom and aunt grew up alone, with no parents watching over them at all! They had to fight all the time for a bed or food. I grew up easy, I know I did. Mom put a roof over my head, and always made sure I had to eat. She knows what she does is dangerous too! If I wanna live that life with her, then I gotta be ready to fight the same fights she did. So I am really very sorry that I chased you after a single apple and took your scarf. Because I’ve been living like this for two months- I know how important it is to have something from home.”

“I’m not holding onto anything!” VC snapped, wrapping the scarf around her neck.

“Your scarf.” Lilac reminded her. “It looked really special. This bag is the same. My mom gave it to me. Who gave your scarf to you?”

VC held the ends of the scarf in her hoof. “...my dad. Before...well...”

Lilac settled herself at the tree’s roots. She patted the space beside her. The filly sat down. “Wanna talk about him, VC, if you don’t mind me calling you that?”

VC rubbed her hoodie sleeve. “...that’s fine...I mean...nopony likes talking to me about my problems.”

“I’m not a pony, I’m a dragon.”

Lilac sat beneath the tree. Together, she and VC talked the afternoon away.

==CAH==

Thorax was lost. He was secure enough as a male to know when he was lost. It didn’t make him feel better about being lost. That meant he had to ask for directions. The few Manehattan ponies he asked just rolled their eyes and grunted at him, so he was getting no help there.

After stumbling around the city he found a map that got him where he wanted to go. This tiny little cafe that Lilac recommended in her last letter.

Lilac was already in the cafe, happily petting a cat. Thorax walked in. He saw ponies drinking tea, cats lounging about everywhere they liked. Thorax waved at her to get her attention. Lilac looked up with a smile. “Dad!” She hopped up, running to him. The dad and daughter hugged. “So, you like it?”

“Yeah. What is this place again?” Thorax asked.

Lilac beamed. “It’s a cat cafe. You can sit around, and hang out with cats.”

Thorax watched the cats, hopping from post to post. “Cookie would love this one.”

“Yeah! I was thinking if you brought up the others, they would like to see.” Lilac explained. “They can meet VC too!”

Thorax tilted her head. “VC?”

Lilac pointed back towards her table. Thorax saw that same cat being petted by a yellow filly. “Get this- her name is Vanilla  _ Cookie! _ Isn’t that funny? She said her parents were bakers, so they named her that. Only she wasn’t really a baker pony, she likes working on tech. Then it hit me. Cookie. Like the computer thing, not like our sister. Her parents didn’t get it or like so VC lives on the streets. She’s really cool.”

Looking back, Thorax should have known. This was a bad idea in the making. He could watch it all go down in real time.

For now, he had only this to say.

“I can no longer be mad at Raspberry.”

==CAH==

“And I’m telling you- we can’t listen to the Great Betrayer!” Pharynx yelled out in pain.

Darcy stood up, brushing her hand through her hair. “And I told  _ you _ : interrupt again, get a knife in the shoulder!”

Morgan reached up. She put a hand on her sister’s arm. Darcy fell back to her sister’s side. “See? Things like that? Ponies don’t like it. They view knife throwing as impolite.”

The changelings all made appreciative noises. Some even wrote that down on notepads. 

Morgan smiler appreciatively at the crowd. “With that, our time is up. Darcy, go retrieve your knife-” Pharynx threw it with a loud yell. Darcy grabbed the blade, stopping it from hitting her gut but getting a cut on her hand. “-Changelings, you have a great day in Manehattan.”

The changelings applauded for the twin humans. Morgan waved as they walked off the stage. Darcy was wrapping a bandage on her hand. Across the room, she gave Pharynx a nod. He glared back before nodding back. When they were off the stage Morgan’s bracelet glowed.

The humans shifted back into their Equestria forms. The bandage was wrapping on Killjoy’s hoof. She winced, lifting it.

Raspberry shrugged, nonchalant about her sister’s pain. “Should’ve let it go by.”

“I like that knife.” Killjoy replied. “Not a lot of things can get me. Thorax’s brother is way cooler than him.”

Thorax approached them, shaking his head. “Don’t tell him that.”

Raspberry stepped by his side, nuzzling his cheek. “Hey babe!”

“Hey.” Thorax happily returned the nuzzle.

Killjoy sought eye contact with Pharynx. When she had it, she nodded towards the couple then gagged. 

“How’s our girl?” Raspberry asked. “I’m about to head over for training. Killjoy is gonna take it easy.”

“I can take her on with this.” Killjoy countered. “This is  _ nothing. _ ”

“Sure.” Raspberry replied, ignoring the argument. “But how is she?”

Thorax had a look on his face. The face of a man walking into hell. He was giving into the challenge ahead. This was a man who knew he would lose this fight, he was ready to die with honor. “She made a friend.”

“She has lots of friends.”

“This one was disowned by her parents.”

This has Raspberry and Killjoy’s attention. Killjoy suddenly matched Thorax’s look of dread. Raspberry had a glint in her eye. That going turned into a blaze when she saw that glint returned in Thorax’s eye.

“You can no longer make fun of me.” Raspberry told Thorax.

The changeling sighed. “I know.”

“I mean it. The others can. You just revoked that privilege.” Raspberry carried on. “You wouldn’t have told me unless you wanted to adopt her too.”

He whined.“She’s so  _ tiny _ .” Thorax tried to excuse. That foal had been tiny beneath her gray hoodie and skirt, like she had been struggling on the streets for  _ awhile _ .

“What was her name?”

“Vanilla Cookie.” 

“That...is so sweet.”

“I  _ know _ !”

Killjoy pulled her knife back out. “I could save all of Equestria by pushing this into her throat. I could do it. Stop the plague before it spreads. It’s the only path of justice.” She raised it.

Raspberry used her wing to knock it away. “So where’s the new kid?” The couple walked to the exit.

“With Lilac at your training space.” Thorax admitted. “Who do I write at social services?”

“I’m not sure who the Manehattan head is, I’ll check before I finish training.” Raspberry replied. They continued talking as they left the building.

Killjoy looked over towards Pharynx. The changeling’s shoulder was obviously bleeding. Pharynx showed no sign of wanting to get that fixed. 

“You. Knife wielder.” Killjoy barely acknowledged him. “What are they talking about?” Pharynx asked.

“Our new niece.” Killjoy replied with a tired groan. Pharynx stared, wide eyed. “Yep. I’m gonna go make fun of both of them. I’d get that cut checked out- the knife was poisoned with bug spray.”

As Killjoy left, Pharynx hissed. Though he hated the idea he did go get medical attention.


	18. 5 Kids (And Counting-SHH)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are mentions of child abuse here. Including and not limited to: actual hitting of a child, emotional abuse of a child, downward thought spirals, way too many panic attacks, and references to parents that aren’t nice. If something triggered you and I missed it, I am BEGGING you to tell me. I don’t want to scare people, I just wanna tell a story about a family.

It was a beautiful, quiet day in Ponyville. This was the intention of the weather ponies, of course. They’d been working to make this the quietest Ponyville had ever been, or ever would be if one were being honest with themselves.

Fluttershy knew this very well. She gathered the loudest ponies in town. Pure coincidence that those ponies were her closest friends. Yep, definitely not an intentional thing. No, Fluttershy just wanted to see her friends. She wouldn’t scold them for being loud, she would never dream of it. She would just very politely whisper it.

The pegasus stood in front of her friends. Thorax was kneeling down to be level with Raspberry’s shoulder. Raspberry stayed still so as not to disturb him. Killjoy sat in the back, leaning on a tree. The rest of her friends were vibrating on their hooves. Everypony was so excited for the Breezies to come on through. Fluttershy built up the event for ages. Ever since she was selected to study the Breezies, this event was all she would talk about. A lot of that week for Twilight was tied in with the memory of tending an ailing Discord.

“Okay, everypony.” Fluttershy began. Her friends quieted down, smiling happily at Fluttershy. Most of them, anyway. Killjoy was paying more attention to the knife in her hooves. “As you know, the adorable fairy creatures known as Breezies are about to come through Ponyville.”

Pinkie squealed loudly. “Yes! Ooh, it’s so exciting! Ah! I can’t wait for Rainbow Dash to make the breeze for them so I can see how cute they are up close!”

“I’ve never done it before, not that I won’t be totally awesome at it, because I totally will!” Dash agreed.

Fluttershy was already seeing what she had to work with here. “And that breeze is very important, but so is cheering on those teeny-tiny little things, so they have the confidence to ride that breeze to their native land. Did I mention how tiny they are? So tiny! I was thinking we could do a special Breezie cheer!”

“I  _ love _ cheers!” Pinkie squealed loudly again.

“But these cheers should be  _ quiet _ cheers.” Fluttershy explained. “We don’t want to startle them. They need to be able to concentrate. Why don’t we try it?  _ You can do it, Breezies.” _

Her friends shouted in her face. “You can do it, Breezies!”

She heard three ponies quietly whisper “You can do it, Breezies!”

Fluttershy blinked at them all. “Oh, my.”

“Heh, sorry, Fluttershy.” Applejack spoke up first. “I had no idea how hard it was to do a cheer quietly.” 

“Oh, it’s okay. Quiet doesn’t come naturally for everypony.” Fluttershy assured them. “Raspberry, Thorax, Killjoy, you did a good job. Could everypony do it like they did?”

“How did you do it?” Dash asked.

Raspberry blinked at Dash. “I have kids. They sleep at night, I don’t.”

“You learn or you die.” Thorax added.

“I learned so others could die!” Killjoy cheered.

“Another kid?” Twilight pointed out. “Four wasn’t enough?”

“Six. She wanted to stay human, so she’s in another dimension.” Raspberry explained. Thorax looked up at her. “I introduced you to Nina, I know I did.”

“What even  _ are you _ .” Dash asked, leaning away from the couple.

Raspberry grinned, showing off too shiny teeth. “Greedy.”

Dash stepped back from Raspberry. She didn’t want to be next.

“Let’s try it again.” Fluttershy called them to attention. 

Her friends all sat up, determination on their faces. “You can do it, Breezies!” They were all still shouting. Did they not get it?

Raspberry, Thorax, and Killjoy were the only ones to whisper.

“Perhaps just a  _ little _ bit quieter.”

“You can do it, Breezies!”

“Just a _ little  _ quieter.”

“You can do it, Breezies!” They all whispered.

“Perfect!” Fluttershy shouted, then recognized what she’d done. “Oh, um, I mean... yay.”

Everypony laughed.

“But seriously, Raspberry, that’s a lot of kids.” Twilight told her.

“I know.” Raspberry was proudly smiling, wrapping a hoof around Thorax. “It’s great.”

==CAH==

Thorax came from a big family. Hundreds of brothers and sisters, with only one exceptionally close sibling and one exceptionally annoying sibling. Thorax hadn’t really ever thought about having a bigger family, about wanting kids, about being a dad.

When he decided to go out with Raspberry, Thorax learned that meant taking care of Lilac. He could handle that, just one kid that was a dragon. Lilac hadn’t liked him at first, Thorax could understand that. He was actually lying about who he was, and what danger he was putting them in. His stance in the relationship was critical to getting along with Lilac. If Lilac didn’t like him, Raspberry would toss him out. So Thorax worked to prove himself to a ten year old dragon who could probably melt off his chitin with a sneeze.

A month into the relationship Raspberry adopted Cookie. Thorax didn’t mind the new kid, Cookie was great. She just needed to be entertained. Thorax was good at that- or that’s how it seemed, with Cookie laughing at him so much.

He found he actually liked being a dad. Taking care of the kids didn’t feel like an add-on to the relationship, it felt like a perk. Thorax cared a lot about the girls, and their mother in turn. Protecting them in that invasion came easy, without an ulterior motive. He wanted them safe from his mother, plain and simple.

Over time, their tiny family of four suited Thorax. He learned about them, they learned about him. Raspberry was always there if Thorax had questions. Thorax made human friends that helped too.

Then they came back to Equestria. Raspberry and Thorax took in three more kids in three months. That was a record, even for Raspberry. Thorax couldn’t disagree with taking them in. All the foals were alone, in need of care. Thorax grew up in a Hive full of changelings, he rarely felt lonely. Looking back, he couldn’t say it was a home full of love. Ironic, a changeling Hive void of love.

Raspberry didn’t really grow up in a big house. Well she did but she was never there. Any time she was, she admitted to feeling out of place there. Her powers only added to that divide. She didn’t want any of the Equestrian foals to feel so cast out, so alone in the most formative years of their lives.

That’s what Raspberry and Thorax said.

Killjoy just kept making jokes about Raspberry collecting strays. 

Raspberry didn’t even deny it. 

They gathered their large family, bringing them to the Breezie Town Party. Thorax was surprised any kids were at this event. Then again, most of the foals seemed to understand the instructions of the parents/guardians. His kids were usually the loud ones. Yes, mainly the one that was a cat.

Cookie was crawling around Raspberry. On her back, her legs, her head. Thorax wondered how Raspberry could stand it, she usually didn’t like people bothering her when she was reading. But Raspberry was relaxed, calming turning the pages as Cookie’s claws gripped at her fur and her giggle filled the space.

Dynamite and Justice were sitting idly by. Dynamite wanted to go find the CMC, Justice was content just sitting to watch in silence. VC sat by Thorax, looking around the gathered crowd in concern.

“It’s okay.” Thorax assured her. He sat himself by her side, looking up as the pegasi moved the breeze. “This town gets weird.”

Vc shifted in her spot, still looking around in suspicion. “Why is there a mariachi band if they’re trying to keep quiet?”

Thorax had no idea. “No clue. Raspberry?” She poked her head up. “Why is there a band?”

Cookie was poking Raspberry’s horn. She only gave a small wince to acknowledge it. “So that when it stops everypony shuts up.”

“But what if they don’t notice?” VC asked.

“Trust me, everyone notices when a mariachi band stops playing.” Raspberry explained.

“That’s when the beatings begin.” Justice stated.

VC glared at him. “Shut up! I know that’s not true!”

“It could be.” Dynamite taunted. “Maybe you’ll be first cause you’re new.”

“No you’ll be, cause you’re stupid!” VC snapped.

“Oi.” Raspberry scolded. The three foals quieted. Thorax was lucky she spoke up, he was finding it hard to process any of it. “None of that talk. VC, none of you are idiots or stupid. You’re still figuring each other out. You two, she’s still getting used to things here. Don’t be mean.” Raspberry warned. She was glaring warningly at them. “Okay?”

The children lowered their heads, frowning petulantly. “Yes ma’am.”

Cookie poked her mother again. She giggled. Raspberry winced again. Thorax figured that the kids yelling, and having to pull away from her book to think about mariachi’s was disturbing her quiet reading.

“Hey Cookie, wanna climb a tree?” Thorax offered. 

Cookie leapt off her mother’s head. She soared to Thorax, floating through the air rather than outright flight. Raspberry let her head flop into her book. She nodded her hoof at Thorax. 

She was trying to give him a thumb’s up.

Thorax beamed, even as Cookie played in his antlers. “Okay then- Dynamite, wanna come with to find the others?”

Dynamite glanced at her new sister, giving the butter yellow earth pony a squint. She turned away to stand beside Thorax. “Yeah.”

“Great!” That left Raspberry with the quieter kids. “Was that stuff about mariachi’s true?” Thorax heard VC ask behind him.

“No idea, it just makes sense.” Raspberry explained. “Fluttershy is smart like that.”

Thorax beamed.

Thorax was good at getting the kids out fast, and contained. Growing up as he did, Thorax picked up a lot of tricks about how to manage rowdy ponies. Or, maybe, what to do instead of hitting or shouting at them.

Thorax often wondered if he had any right to be this good with kids. His own upbringing didn’t make him look like a good dad. Chrysalis wasn’t a great example of motherhood in the way ponies saw it. She put a roof over his head, made sure she was feeding her children, and protected them from outsiders.

For a while, before the Invasion. Her whole plan going against everything originally believed by changelings. 

Thorax tried to learn from the Queen’s mistakes. He worked to pay attention to how Raspberry handled the kids, or what the many, many parenting books he read taught him.

Whenever they fought at the Hive amongst themselves, Chrysalis was never kind. She used her magic on them. Thorax remembered seeing so many of his fellow Changelings thrown into the hard walls. He himself got knocked into them after too loud fights with Pharynx.

Raspberry’s hoof never as much as flinched, not a single spark of magic came from her horn, her wings never twitched. She spoke to the kids, never yelling. If she raised her voice, she apologized. 

Thorax took notes.

He left Dynamite with her friends. Apparently they wanted to earn a cutiemark from...actually Thorax didn’t understand what they were trying to earn a cutiemark in. Something about Breezies, and being quiet the longest. Thorax hoped that was it.

Cookie was still happily using him for a jungle gym. Thorax brought her over to a nearby tree. There were pegasi overhead. Rainbow Dash was directing them on windflow. When Thorax looked, he could still spot Raspberry and Justice reading, VC was getting a snack from the Cakes.

Ah, she was meeting Fluttershy. That was nice. She would definitely explain everything about the Breezies to VC.

Thorax looked back at Cookie. The tree was being used for a scratching post. Thorax didn’t see a problem. 

He couldn’t see anything, actually. Rarity walked in, wearing the sparkliest dress possible. Thorax turned his eyes towards Cookie again. Cookie didn’t notice anything. 

Not long after, Fluttershg talked Rarity down. She agreed to wear something less shiny. The shine would distract the Breezies, or even hurt them. 

Kindness. A most important trait in ponies. A skill constantly labeled as weakness. A skill that Thorax was still learning. 

How did they all do it? He knew changelings were capable of kindness, of showing care to others. The evolutions proved that. Why did it still feel so hard, so surprising to see kindness in action?

Twilight called everypony to attention. The band quieted down. 

“Please welcome... the Breezies!”

The crowd quieted. Thorax walked over, tapping Cookie on the shoulder to show her.

Cookie’s eyes went wide at the sight. She climbed up Thorax, using his antlers as a perch. Thorax was watching too. The Breezies- even from this far- looked adorable.

Somepony poked Thorax. He looked down, careful not to twist his head. Cookie was still holding tight- he couldn’t be sure she would fly before hitting the ground. 

“Hey Spike.” Thorax whispered.

“Can I climb on you, so I can see?” Spike asked.

Thorax smiled. “Sure thing!”

Spike beamed.

Thorax carefully knelt down. He kept his head steady, wanting to not jostle Cookie. Spike climbed onto his back. Once standing, all three could see the Breezies flight.

But this is something very important that Thorax forgot. Whenever Raspberry did something to change the world, most of the time it was ignored. Other times? The world had to get drastic to keep things the same.

Spike was supposed to not have a vantage point. He was supposed to climb a tree, knock off a leaf, and the leaf was meant to cut off a dozen Breezies. If that didn’t happen, a lot of other things wouldn’t. Including Fluttershy earning her key to the Tree of Harmony, which would save Equestria.

Yeah. The fate of Equestria hinged on a leaf.

Raspberry knew this. Thorax didn’t. Raspberry hadn’t caused this change. Thorax did. Indirectly because of Raspberry. So, it made sense what happened next.

“Butterfly!” Cookie whispered. She let go of Thorax’s antlers, flying up.

Thorax’s eyes went wide. “Cookie wait-!”

_ Too late _

Cookie flew up- her head hitting a branch. She yelped in pain. The impact sent off a leaf. 

“Oh no!” Thorax panicked.

The leaf was flying in the Pegasi made breeze. It lopped, swirled along it. The leaf twirled itself right into the path of the Breezies.

It didn’t go well.

Thorax watched in slow motion. The Breezies were lost from the pack. The Pegasi tried to help- pointless as it was. The Breezies began to panic as they scrambled to catch up with the rest. Their leader doubled back to help- it wasn’t working either.

Fluttershy went to help. She did what she could, the crowd quietly cheering her on. The Breezies fell. Fluttershy bravely caught them. She brought them to safety on the ground, their group still flying ahead none the wiser. 

Thorax was horrified.

Spike hopped off his back. Thorax made sure he had Cookie with him before running to Raspberry. She was keeping Justice and VC by her side.

“Starry!” Thorax panicked. “Starry I-”

Raspberry cut him off. “No time. Kids, you stay here.” Her horn lit up. Thorax flinched back. Cookie was lifted off his head, dropped between the two preteens. “Watch your sister. We’re going to check on Fluttershy.”

“Star-”

“Bee come on.” Raspberry rushed off.

Thorax didn’t have skin, not like humans did. If he did he bet his face would’ve gone pale.

He followed after her. His heart was racing in his thorax. 

Everypony in their group was already there when Thorax caught up with Raspberry.

“That was  _ amazing _ !” Pinkie praised Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get a breeze going that would get them back to the others.” Dash told her.

Fluttershy “Oh, it’s not your fault.” Fluttershy assured Dash.

_ Yeah _

_ It was Thorax’s _

He waited for them to start it. It made sense, didn’t it? The changeling helped cause the problems. He ruined the lives of the Breezies. They would never make it back home because Thorax failed as a father. 

“I, for one, am very proud of you, Fluttershy. Leaping into action like that.” Twilight patted Fluttershy on the back.

Meanwhile, Raspberry was completely ignoring Thorax. Raspberry ignored things when she was mad. She waited for the right time, until you were comfortable. Thorax was gonna get it later. He was complicit in something terrible. Did this happen in the episode? Thorax had no idea. He wasn’t in the episode, so he wasn’t there to cause problems, which meant it was his fault entirely.

“I feel like I should design you a special hero’s gown! Heh... Or a sash. At least a sash.” Rarity praised.

Thorax couldn’t take it.

“Okay, okay, okay! I know what you’re all thinking!” Thorax slumped to the ground, covering his face with his hooves. “Why don’t you just say it?!” He sobbed. “I’m sorry! This is all my fault! I’m so, so sorry!”

Somepony was patting his head.

“Oh, Thorax, it’s okay! It could have happened to any one of us.” Fluttershy assured him. Her voice was too far away to be her hoof on his head.

Wait...then was it-

“Yeah. In the episode, Spike did it.” Raspberry revealed. “And this was Cookie, not you.”

“I was watching her!” Thorax pleaded. “I was supposed to keep her out of trouble, I’m sorry-”

“Shhh.” Raspberry moved her hoof. Instead, she started hugging him around his shoulder. She helped Thorax to his feet. “We’ll just...go. You guys settle this.”

“Okay. Bye Raspberry, bye Thorax!” Fluttershy called out.

Raspberry’s magic went off. Thorax could feel her magic wrap around him. He let himself sag in defeat.

==CAH==

The front door closed shut behind Raspberry. Killjoy was at the window, trying to peak in. Raspberry knocked her hoof on it, warding her maniacal sister away.

“Kids. Go to your rooms.” She instructed.

They turned to her. “Mom-”

“Now. Dad and I need to have a talk.” Raspberry instructed. Her tone told everypony not to question her again. 

All four of them dashed away. Thorax let himself succumb to his fate.

“Bee. We’re going to our room too.” Raspberry told him. “I don’t want Killjoy watching this.”

Thorax couldn’t understand why. Raspberry usually liked having Killjoy by her side when punishing somepony. He shrugged it off. It was probably a ploy to make Thorax feel safer, or unsuspecting.

Once in their room Raspberry closed the door. She locked it for good measure. At the click of a lock, she let out a quiet sigh.

Thorax sat in the middle of the room. He let himself be open to whatever they were about to do. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see Raspberry looming over him. Killjoy was going to pop out from the closet any second. Raspberry was thinking through all the ways to punish Thorax. That was fine, he expected it.

He didn’t expect another hug.

He didn’t expect Raspberry shifting to her human form, running her fingers behind his ear. Morgan’s fingers gently brushed there, scratching enough to be soothing. Like Thorax was a frightened cat.

“It’s okay.” Morgan told him. “I don’t blame you.”

Thorax’s bottom lip trembled. “Yeah you do.”

“No I don’t. Even if I did, I wouldn’t be mad.” Morgan told him.

“I should’ve stopped her.” Thorax pleaded. “Been a better dad like you when you stopped the others from fighting.”

Her fingers were shaking in rage. Thorax didn’t need his powers to know that. He could check, the very idea of feeling her anger made his entire body break out in a cold sweat.

“I shouldn’t have been so stern on them. They’re siblings, and siblings fight. I wanted them to stop before it got physical.” Morgan countered. She was straining in her tone, to keep it level. “You did much better in separating them completely.”

Thorax shook his head. Morgan started using her right hand to brush down his back. Her fingers were brushing soothingly right between his wings. What hurt so much was that it actually calmed him down...he relaxed into her hold. Morgan was so good at this. She was always so smart...always knew exactly what to do with Thorax...

==CAH==

_ I have no idea what I’m doing.  _

Thorax was freaking out. Really  _ really _ freaking out into a depressive tailspin I only experienced from the other side. How did I comfort this? Could it be stopped or would he stop in a minute?

Was he hungry- did he need to eat? Or nap? I remember reading somewhere people who had breakdowns averted them by eating or sleeping. 

_ I make the mess, I clean the mess _ .

Changelings didn’t strictly feed on love anymore. That didn’t stop it from being beneficial to their diets. Is that what he needed? Just a top up of love- would that help him calm down?

It was supposed to be Spike. What- what even happened? I remember seeing Thorax by the tree so Cookie could be distracted. Spike must’ve gone to Thorax for a view, since everypony else said no. Oh Thorax was kind like that. He would’ve said yes without hesitating- he hadn’t watched the episode so Thorax wouldn’t have known what happened.

_ My poor Bee... _

I kept brushing my fingers down his back and kept my left arm wrapped around his back. Thorax was shuddering in my arms like he was frozen. So I leaned forward, kissing the top of his head between the antlers.

He shuddered again, sagging against me like a deflating balloon. His face was wet as he turned it to my chest. The shirt was starting to stick to my chest as water came from his cheeks.

“It’s all my fault.” Thorax whined.

“You did nothing wrong.”  _ You were just kind. Beautifully, wonderfully kind. Of course things were different- you chose to be kind. Did you even choose? Had it ever crossed your mind to tell Spike no? How did I get with someone as kind as you?  _ “Nothing at all.”

“You said I was in trouble-” Thorax sobbed. The words were muffled. He either said that, or that  _ ‘I thought I was in trouble’. _

“I said we needed to talk in my room, so Darcy wouldn’t be a nosy bitch.” I corrected with as much kindness and caution available to me. “I was going to talk to you about what happened, make sure you were okay so we could touch base on what we do next.”  _ How much of this was getting through? Was he paying attention to anything or was he so far down this spiral it didn’t matter?  _ “After that we could talk to Cookie-”

“No!” Thorax  _ pulled _ himself from my arms. He stood firm in front of me. I reacted fast, holding up my hands in defense. Thorax was glaring now. “No I won’t let you!”

“Whoa! It’s just to talk- make sure she’s okay, or even knows that she did something wrong!” I explained to him. Nope. Nothing I said before got through. He- he was so worried, so scared. The only thing that got through was that I was going after Cookie.  _ Our own daughter. _ “Not- not like  _ that _ . You really think I would do that?”

Thorax thought I would be so cruel to our kids? That- that I would be  _ awful _ to young Cookie? Tears filled my eyes as I realized that. The changeling I loved wanted to stand between me and Cookie, protecting her from me. If I wasn’t so hurt, I would admit to being touched at his protectiveness.

But I was hurt. Really, really hurt by it. He was hurt too so I was telling myself not to take it too personally.

“I- I-  _ no.” _ Thorax shook his head. His entire attack stance relaxed. I kept my hands up in case he changed his mind. “You’re not like her.”

_ Which her? _

My demonic dark side, who hadn’t been a stranger to child endangerment or abuse. The girl who enjoyed hurting people? I wasn’t like her, that’s what he says immediately after taking a position of defense against me and our children.

“Do  _ not  _ play the pronoun game with me right now!” I snapped.

“Chrysalis!” Oh. Right. Yes- it wasn’t always about me. Sometimes people’s problems came from other sources. I should really start paying attention to those self-help books... “You’re not like my mother. You- you’re different.  _ Good _ different.” Thorax assured.

I held out my arms. Thorax settled down against me, curling into another hug. He nuzzled the side of my neck. 

We stayed like that for a long while.

==CAH==

Somepony was knocking on the door.

Thorax just finished cleaning up dinner. The Breezie Incident was a while ago. After his freak out, Morgan made sure he got something to eat. Morgan checked on Cookie. The griffon hadn’t noticed or cared.

_ ‘Exactly like a cat’ _ Morgan tried to joke to get Thorax to smile.

It was effective later when Thorax let it sink in.

Morgan stood up from the living room couch. “I’ve got it.” She told him. Thorax nodded. The door was actually closer to Thorax but he appreciated the gesture. He didn’t feel ready for a lot of interactions yet. 

She walked to the door. Her bracelet glowed briefly to shift her back into Raspberry Stardust. The door opened.

“Morgan!” Twilight poked her head in. “We’ve got a problem!”

“Fluttershy waited too long to send the Breezies home so you need more support to send them off?” Raspberry rattled off.

“...Yes!” Twilight replied.

Raspberry grinned. “Let me get the kids.”

“Wait no we just need-”

“Trust me. You need as many ponies as possible.” Raspberry countered. “Alright? Can we agree on that? That I actually know what I’m talking about?”

Twilight sighed. “Okay, fine. You can bring them.”

“Good. You go get Killjoy- she should be at her house. If not, she’ll be abandoned.” Raspberry looked to Thorax. He nodded in agreement. If she thought it was best, the kids could go. Maybe there was a lesson he wanted them to see.

Once Raspberry got them all together she turned to Thorax.

“Let’s go.” She bumped his shoulder.

Thorax blinked. “What? I can’t go.”

“Consider it a chance to redeem yourself, if you still feel bad.” Raspberry offered.

Thorax couldn’t deny that sounded nice. Whatever it took to fix what he broke, he wanted to help.

==CAH==

They gathered up in a clearing. Rainbow Dash was working with two weather ponies to make the breeze.

“It’s too strong!” Dash told her group.

“I can’t do it any lighter!” One weatherpony replied.

“Neither can I!”

“Fly back! I’m gonna try and see if I can slow it down.” Thorax watched with bated breath. Raspberry stayed by his side, her hoof wrapped around his, her head on his shoulder. “Now it’s too light! Oh, this will never get them home!”

“Oh, my.” Fluttershy panicked. “Maybe it’s because there are too few of them. When they started their journey, there was more of them to face the breeze together.”

Twilight stepped forward. “Okay, I see what you meant Raspberry. We  _ did _ need as many ponies as possible.”

Raspberry preened. 

“I’ve been studying an old spell book from the Castle of the Two Sisters. There’s a spell that I think could help us! This is probably gonna feel a little funny at first, but you’re gonna have to trust me.”

“I  _ love _ new ideas that make me feel funny at first!” Pinkie cheered.

Everypony stood together. All in silent agreement. Thorax’s kids were vibrating in excitement. They weren’t often included in these adventures. VC just looked curious about the whole thing. 

Twilight turned to Raspberry. “Can you-”

Raspberry raised her hoof. The bracelet shined as it became visible. “I can change this half, you change the other?”

Twilight nodded.

Both of them began to glow. Twin beams of purple/pink and yellow came out towards the crowd. Thorax was missed by both shots. When the glow went away, everypony and every-griffon was changed into a Breezie. Raspberry looked so  _ pretty _ as a Breezie. Thorax wanted to kiss her.

Wait...why was he still so big? He checked. He was still in his normal form.

“Why didn’t I change?” Thorax asked. Everypony stared at him. It clicked. “Oh. Right.”

He shifted into a smaller form. His Breezie version looking a lot more like Raspberry’s by accident. Thorax wasn’t exactly thinking about how to make it look- just about Raspberry. He tried again, shifting his skin to a bright green. 

Raspberry flew to his side. She kissed his cheek. Changelings could, indeed, blush.

“ _ Maifo flai batendud!”  _ Fluttershy called out. Everyone looked at her in confusion. The Breezies shot up in delight. Fluttershy blushed. “Um, I mean, let’s go!” She corrected.

They followed a new breeze. Thorax stuck by Raspberry’s side, their kids all floating behind them.

==CAH==

The journey was long. The kids were all so high energy it hardly mattered. Dark Justice seemed happy to learn about the world around them as they passed them by. VC was so excited to try flying. Dynamite and Cookie liked twirling around each other.

Raspberry was content to let them play. They stayed close in the breeze. Thorax was content if she was. 

Raspberry was talking to him the entire flight. She explained the episode, explained what happened. She talked about how Spike was supposed to let the leaf loose, how Fluttershy would save the Breezies but never actually giving the okay to send them on their way home. There were a lot of lessons this season, Raspberry explained, that she couldn’t interfere with. They needed to be learned. The best Raspberry could do was help after the lesson was learned. Hence, gathering up the kids for the breeze.

She explained that it wasn’t Thorax’s fault once again. Apparently, whenever she changed something the reality just worked harder to make it happen. If it was a big deal. Which apparently was true for a falling leaf. Thorax didn’t get it. Raspberry told him he didn’t need to, it would make sense in a few months.

Not at all foreboding.

Thorax asked anyway. “Then wait...what was the lesson? I don’t see what Fluttershy needed to learn.”

“Kindness.” Raspberry explained.

“...babe she’s the embodiment of kindness.”

“Exactly. But sometimes, people can go too far.” Raspberry explained. “Her heightened empathy towards the Breezies in their immediate plight made her forget the bigger picture. They needed to get home more than they needed hoof stitched sweaters. Fluttershy had to learn that- or at least be reminded of it. That Breezie there- Seabreeze- he needed to learn about kindness too. It wasn’t just Fluttershy, nah they  _ both  _ had to learn something from shared experience.”

“So Fluttershy learned that sometimes the best way of being kind-” Thorax turned his head, giving his wife a knowing stare. She was pointedly up at the sky. “-is to let them go.”

Raspberry wasn’t paying attention to him. Nah, she was looking up at the sky. “What a pretty sky. Why don’t we come to this part of Equestria more often? There’s so much snow.”

“Starry.” Thorax chided.

“I will not learn my lesson, I refuse.” Raspberry replied, still looking up at the sky. “You refuse too- I know it. The guy that stood up to me earlier wouldn’t just let a kid be left alone.”

Thorax sighed. He loved her too much to really criticize her. He loved all their kids too...he just thought they should be smarter about the pacing. That would be hard to tell Raspberry. She had the hardest time turning kids away.

Thorax did too. He wanted them all close and safe, always. As many as Raspberry was willing to take in.

Okay they may  _ both  _ have a problem...

==CAH==

The Breezies made it home, safe and sound. Twilight and Raspberry were able to get everypony back into their normal bodies. If Seabreeze gave Fluttershy a gift that glowed like an oddly colored rainbow, only Raspberry noticed.

Okay and Cookie. She liked how shiny it got. Raspberry was careful to keep the kitten turned griffon from going for the flower.

That flower was gonna save Equestria. Not that anypony but Raspberry and Discord knew that...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you ever think about Chrysalis’ parenting techniques? Cause I think about them. A lot. All the time.
> 
> Sorry if anything here triggered anybody. I was 2k words in before I was like ‘hey maybe I should warn people about the shit that happens in this MLP found family fic.’ 


	19. It's Just Rocks

Raspberry was friends with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and her husband, Shining Armor. Her daughter was friends with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. She heard that Fluttershy’s brother lived in Cloudsdale, though by Fluttershy’s carefully worded stories she was in no hurry to meet him. Rainbow Dash was an only child according to Scootaloo (though the filly herself could count as a baby sister). If you checked, Raspberry Stardust was friends with the siblings of everypony in the friend group.

All except for Pinkie Pie.

Also Fluttershy but we’re ignoring that for later.

Raspberry didn’t consider herself a social pony. There was a limited circle for ponies she interacted with in a given day, and Raspberry was okay with that. She had the kids, and her sister, and Thorax. The Mane Six were just bonuses. Discord was also great for a chat. Luna was fine once a week. 

It was a toss up for if Raspberry wanted to be Maud’s friend too. While Raspberry knew that the mare wasn’t one for conversation, Raspberry was willing to bet she would find a way to fill the silence.

Not that everypony else in their friend group was content with that. Pinkie admitted that she wanted everypony to be best friends with Maud, so everypony tried to be best friends with Maud.

It went as well as all their plans did.

Honestly, why do they think Raspberry stuck around them so long?

They met up near a pond with their pets. No regard that Raspberry had no pet. Cookie didn’t count...well she used to be a cat, and she had trouble counting beyond eight, but she didn’t count as a pet. That’s the important bit here. Raspberry brought no pet.

And she argued with Killjoy all morning that Thorax didn’t count as a pet either.

Still. Sitting beside Maud, Raspberry kept herself quiet. Let the others be wild and rambunctious. She wanted to sit on a blanket, enjoy some tea and muffins in relative quiet. Her kids were out playing with friends or enjoying their hobbies in solitude. Thorax was having his Equestrian Games team over for practice. Killjoy decided to take the day to visit Lilac for a fishing trip. It felt like a chaotic mess of a day. Raspberry was happy for the distraction of things progressing in the show.

Raspberry wanted to stay distant during the game to find Boulder. She was too good at those games. Killjoy stopped playing with her sometime before middle school. Raspberry played Hidden Object video games instead of- what was that other thing people did?- making friends. 

Twilight made her play.

She spotted Boulder in two seconds. 

Maud came up to her side, after a while of Raspberry standing in one spot. “Are you giving up?”

“No.” Raspberry only gave up on herself. “You never took him out of your pocket.”

Maid blinked, slow and steady as always. She checked the pocket of her simple frock dress. “Found him!”

==CAH==

So the friendship picnic was a dud. Raspberry was content to head home, enjoy a good book in bed until dinner time. The rest of the group was less okay with that. They decided one on one time with Maud was the best way to go.

Pinkie told everypony what they would bond with Maud over. Twilight: books/poetry. Rarity: fashion. Fluttershy: nature. Rainbow Dash: games. Applejack: honest. Raspberry: rocks.

Just rocks.

Raspberry could work with that.

If she was going to go along with their insane plan to befriend a pony, she was going to find a way to benefit from it. She decided for her trip with Maud they would visit the Diamond Dogs.

Maud liked rocks. She knew various rock types. Raspberry figured the mare could help her find gemstones for Lilac’s next lunch. Not that Raspberry sent her gemstones on the downlow...nah that would go against the idea of Lilac doing this on her own.

_ (Except Raspberry did it on her own and she hated every second. She wanted people to help her. She was a little kid, she didn’t like feeling so alone. Why was everyone staying so far away-) _

Raspberry just liked collecting gemstones. She Planned to use them. Stones like this in Equestria? They were bound to have incredible magic properties that normal ones back Home only hoped for.

She guided Maud to the tunnel. The Diamond Dogs gave Raspberry a wide berth. They were still terrified of her.

“Welcome to a tunnel full of gemstones.” Raspberry stated. She was in a rush. This needed to be done before dinner time. Since Thorax was working, Raspberry was in charge of making dinner for the kids. “Those are Diamond Dogs. You can ignore them- or not, do what you like. We’re gonna find gems beneath the dirt here. All we gotta do is give them 20% of whatever we find. Pinkie said you were good at rocks, so I’m literally using that expertise for this. Okay?”

Maud blinked.

“Okay.” Raspberry pulled out a rock picking kit from her Bag. She slapped a helmet onto her head. “I would’ve gotten you a pick, but from Pinkie’s stories about the rock farm I think the kit would slow you down.”

“It would.” Maud confirmed. “My hooves can dig through all kinds of rocks. Sedimentary...igneous...metamorphic-”

“There are plenty of igneous rocks here for you to crush.” Raspberry offered. She walked over to a rock wall. A Diamond Dog scuttled away from her. “Anything shiny goes in the Bag. Don’t worry about overfilling it, there’s plenty of room here.”

There was silence from behind Raspberry. She paid no mind to it, instead getting to work on the wall. She remembered this wall from the last time she came by. A Diamond Dog told her there were more gems here, but that Raspberry had been too tired to dig for them. They promised to leave this wall untouched for her next visit.

After a long quiet, Raspberry turned. Maud was standing beside her shoulder. Raspberry figured she approached. Good thing, Raspberry had a history of hitting people that stood this close to her.

Maud blinked again. “You know about rocks?”

Raspberry nodded. “My daughter is a dragon. I was a witch as a kid. You learn a lot about rocks and gems.” She lowered the rock pick. “You gonna gawk, or can we get to work? I’m not in a conversational mood today.”

Maud walked off without another word.

An hour later, between them sat a decent pile of gemstones and rocks. Raspberry sorted out the gems from the rock. Everything with color went into her Bag. Everything else she pushed towards Maud. 

Maud watched it all silently.

Raspberry sat down, getting to cleaning her collection equipment. Maud sat beside her. “Hey. Are you the eldest, or is that another Pie?”

“Limestone is older than me.” Maud answered blandly. She began tucking rocks into her own bag. She eyed them for a moment before tucking them away. She muttered about the kind of rock they were, and even their ages.

Raspberry considered it for a moment. “Limestone is the purple one with a gray mane, yes?”

“Yes.” Maud glanced up at Raspberry. “You could tell?”

“Pinkie mentioned it once.” Raspberry answered. “She showed me a picture of her when she got her cutiemark, named all of you.” Raspberry put away her cleaning supplies. “Hey I got a weird one.” She held out a grayish rock towards Maud. “Do you know what it is?”

Maud accepted the rock. She watched it for a long moment. “It’s igneous in the chromite stage.”

“Yeah? Rocks come in stages?” Raspberry asked, surprised. She knew nothing about that.

“Yes.”

“Huh. Learned something today, that’s cool.” Raspberry hummed. Maud held up the rock. “No, it’s your’s. I wouldn’t know what to do with it, I only found out it existed today.”

Maud nodded in understanding. She stood up. She brought the rock back to the wall she was clearing. After eyeing it for a moment, Maud stuffed the rock back amongst the debris. She came back as Raspberry tucked the last gemstone into her Bag. 

“It’s better to give it more time down here.” Maud stated. “Chromite grows better in this light.”

Raspberry nodded. “You know better than me.  _ Let the warrior who holds the weapon fight the battle, _ and all that.”

Maud eyed Raspberry for a long moment.

“What?” Raspberry asked. “Did you want me to leave gemstones? I already gave Spot and Rover their share-”

“I don’t like Pinkie’s friends.” Maud stated. Raspberry paused. “They’re alright, just not as my friends. They’re trying but it’s not working.”

“I agree.” Raspberry replied. “They always try too hard. They’re trying to fit you into a space you don’t fit to make you a better friend. Like- like...I don’t know. Sticking that igneous with sedimentary. I’m no good at rock analogies.”

“It was alright.” Maud told her.

“Thanks.” Raspberry put her Bag on, tightening it to hold in place. She bobbed her head towards the exit. “I should warn you though. They all go too far. They’re planning on telling Pinkie that you’re not all becoming best friends, so Pinkie’s going to be upset.”

Maud frowned. It was a small thing. Raspberry almost missed it. There was this tiny twitch of Maud’s lips in the smallest way. A  _ ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ _ sort of frown. Or one where you needed a magnifying glass to see it.

“She’ll be alright. Pinkie works through her feelings in her own way, you know that.” Raspberry tried to keep the rock pony from freaking out over this. As an elder sister herself, Raspberry knew how those protective feelings could act up. “You’ll have her back whatever she does.”

Maud’s frown stayed put.

Raspberry always made a mess of socializing. “Yeah. Okay. Let’s head back. Maybe we can stop them?”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

==CAH==

They showed up too late to stop Pinkie. Sure enough they arrived at Sugarcube Corner to find that Pinkie already left to build the obstacle course. 

When they arrived at the obstacle course, the Mane 6 were gathered at the course. It looked like a death trap. Sure it had something for all of them- Raspberry was touched to see that Pinkie included a segment of riddle solving for her. That was nice.

Pinkie still tried the rock climbing wall- made by herself. Her hoof caught on a rock. Her shaking to remove it actually loosened a rock near the top. Maud was throwing herself towards them before the rock could bounce once.

She ran through the obstacle course without slipping even once. She leapt over Pinkie Pie, tearing the giant boulder apart to keep it from hitting Pinkie.

The Mane 6 watched in awe.

Raspberry was still trying to think about the riddles Pinkie made for her.

==CAH==

The next day by the train, everypony was giving Maud rock candy necklaces. They’d made them together after cleaning up the obstacle course. Not Raspberry though. She stopped by her house to feed her kids. After that (and one little stop) she’d come by to make necklaces.

Maud was headed out. Everypony gave her a necklace made of candy. Raspberry? She gave her one made of igneous. It was a pain getting the thread through actual rocks without breaking the rocks. Somehow, she managed it.

Maud seemed to like it. She gave Raspberry a necklace made of the pink rock candies. 

They all waved Maud goodbye. 

Twilight later asked how Raspberry managed it- to befriend a pony that none of them could. They all only got along because they loved Pinkie Pie. Raspberry seemed to be the only one that was a friend.

Raspberry couldn’t give a good answer. “We bonded over rocks. Come on, it’s not rocket science.”

“Can’t you build rockets?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Irrelevant.” Raspberry replied.

“No. You made one and showed us the pictures.” Rainbow Dash recalled.

“Again, irrelevant.” Raspberry dismissed. “She likes rocks and Pinkie. All I did was show her I acknowledged her interests, instead of trying to get her interested in my own.” She didn’t need to give them accusing glares. They would pick up on the message. “Hey Pinkie. Did you have a lot of candy left? The kids were asking.”

“I sure do!” Pinkie cheered. She threw an arm over Raspberry, dragging her off towards the bakery.

Raspberry needed to find an excuse to send the gemstones to Lilac. Having a lot of excess candy from Pinkie Pie would be a good idea.


	20. I Dance On Your Bridge

Luna left the dream of Sweetie Belle. Her night was filled with troubles, inside and out. Luna hoped that with her advice, the rift between Rarity and Sweetie Belle would be smoothed over. 

Her only regret was she missed meeting with Raspberry. It wasn’t often that the ponies of Equestria struggled under something during their appointed meeting time. Celestia did well to maintain peace enough in her daylight to 

Luna tried to visit the dreams of her friend, only to find them over. Luna recalled that Raspberry was able to keep Luna from her dreams, that the Reality Walker could manage that for as long as Raspberry wished.

Luna remembered the last time Raspberry did this. The grief that followed her friend, chased away restful sleep. The lack of life in her eyes, in her words. It softened Luna to Raspberry’s plight, a night of shared feelings and deep conversation. Luna resolved to keep up the weekly visits. That she missed one- without warning- upset her on Raspberry’s behalf, as the Reality Traveler would no doubt be upset.

The feelings of Raspberry were often mysterious, and yet so easy to predict.

==CAH==

By afternoon, Luna was still working out a way to repay the slight against her friend. She originally thought to send a letter via Lilac, only to remember that Lilac lived in a different city now. Her second option was through Spike. The idea of using a proxy to deliver the message felt cheap. Months and months of uninterrupted meetings, and Luna didn’t even apologize to Raspberry’s face? The offense would surely double!

So...Luna was a terrible friend who couldn’t manage to complete a simple apology.

She was still fretting over this when Raspberry greeted her.

“Hey there, friend-o!” Raspberry greeted.

Luna blanched. Why was she here? No, that was a foolish question. Raspberry showed time and time again that her knowledge of the palace was immense, that sneaking inside was no challenge to her. According to the former head of the guard, Raspberry knew many of the ponies by  _ name _ . Entering the palace unannounced was her modus operandi.

Was her offense so grave that Raspberry had to see her face, to yell at Luna’s face rather than stay silent? Luna was an even worse friend than she thought. Raspberry was often so aloof about her feelings, to admit them was such a toll on her. For Raspberry to come to Luna herself to express her feelings meant Luna could possibly be killed in the next five minutes.

Not that she blamed Raspberry for that. Luna would welcome any punishment that Raspberry thought necessary. This act was unforgivable between friends, but Luna was desperate to know that their friendship was intact.

Raspberry winced. “Yeah, I don’t know why I said that. The kids are rubbing off on me.” Raspberry rubbed her neck, grimacing. “Anyway. How’re things? You wanna go-”

Luna knelt down. Raspberry’s eyebrows and nose scrunched up. She focused her eyes on Luna. 

“Friend Raspberry, I beg for quarter.” Luna pleaded. “I know I hath left thee bereft during our weekly engagement. Please, though I do not deserve it, find it in your heart to forgive me!”

Raspberry blinked at Luna. Raspberry leaned down, taking Luna’s hoof in her own. “What? No, it’s fine!” She helped Luna to her feet. Once upright, Raspberry guided Luna through the halls of the palace. Again, Luna didn’t begrudge Raspberry for knowing her home so well. “I knew the whole Sweetie Belle thing was gonna happen. No sweat off my back. I didn’t sleep anyway, so it’s fine.”

Together they walked into Raspberry’s usual guest quarters. Luna saw a tray of tea ready for them on the table- chamomile, by the smell. Raspberry must have been here a long while to set this up. She often premeditated her attacks. Many a dream night were spent with Raspberry explaining murders far off into her future.

Raspberry put Luna into one of the seats. Luna watched Raspberry’s actions. Raspberry poured herself a cup of chamomile, preparing an extra for Luna.

So poison? Definitely poison.

She dropped sugar cubes into their tea cups. “You don’t like cream, right?”

Luna eyed her teacup, cautious. “...neigh.” She did like sugar, so she appreciated the check.

Raspberry snorted.

Luna sniffed the cup. She could smell no poisons. A gentle sip left no bitter taste in her mouth. This was a simple cup of tea. “You...are not mad?” Luna asked. She took a bigger sip of her tea. 

Raspberry shook her head. “Like I said, we’re good. I’m not upset about this, I knew you would be busy. I figured you wouldn’t be there. Insomnia’s acting up again anyway. It does that, sometimes, you remember.” Raspberry added. She sipped at her tea.

“I remember no such thing.” Luna replied.

This made her hum into her drink. “Yeah I told you sometimes I don’t sleep.”

Now that Luna could be certain their friendship wasn’t broken, that they were indeed friends and Luna’s actions hadn’t separated them, she found comfort that her words wouldn’t be cast aside.

“Raspberry. I would have remembered hearing that you occasionally forget to  _ sleep _ .” Luna stressed.

Raspberry winced. “Yeah...that doesn’t sound good, does it?” She sipped at her tea. “It’s fine. They’re nightmares anyway, I don’t wanna drag you into that drama.”

“It’s literally my role to deal with your nightmares.” Luna explained. She lowered her teacup, taking a small note of the pink butterflies along the sides. “The very reason I missed our previous meeting was for that very task.”

“Exactly! You were already working. No need to double your workload, I’m sure there’s a lot. You haven’t _ seen _ how bad my nightmares get.” Raspberry dismissed herself, her own fears. Her own feelings. The very thing that hurt her friend more than anything else.

“Yes I have.” Luna remembered Raspberry’s darker side, remembered flashes of her in the dream world. She saw other foes- countless but their features distinct. Many a night, Luna aided Raspberry fight these creatures of the mind. Raspberry must be unaware of those events come morning. Her own mind doing it’s best to lighten her burden.

Raspberry paused paused, the teacup hovering just before her mouth. Staring at Luna with open mouth shock, Raspberry blinked. “...what have you seen?”

Luna only smiled knowingly. She hoped it was comforting as well- Celestia was helping her learn how to do that.

Raspberry only looked more perturbed than before. “No seriously what have you seen? My paranoia is acting up.”

“I have seen you when you needed help.” Luna answered.

“I wanna sleep even less now. You’ve made it worse.” Raspberry ran her hoof over her face. “ _ Ugh _ .”

“It behooves me to provide you a sufficient rest.” Luna decided.

Raspberry sighed, hoof still over her face. “You don’t need-”

“Please?” Luna asked, as a friend. 

As predicted, Raspberry caved.

==CAH==

Raspberry was set up to sleep in her guest quarters. A quick nap to settle her mind, to assuage Luna’s fears and Raspberry’s. This would settle the matter. The tea helped ease Raspberry, and her lack of sleep the night before made this quick.

Her eyes were closed for barely a minute before the dream began.

Luna dipped into Morgan’s dreams-

- _ burning, burning, everything burning- _

-jumping right the fuck back out. 

Luna’s heart was already racing. Aware that it was a dream, Luna could still smell the burnt environment that plagued Morgan’s dream. There was no time for hesitation. Morgan needed her.

She leapt ahead into the dream-

==CAH==

Everything was on fire.

Luna could hardly believe it. The sky was a dark brown and red. The skyline was a burnt orange. Fires could be seen. Echoed across the dying land were the last screams of her people.

Though the ground was gray ash, the sky was unclear, those screaming were too far away to see, Luna knew for a fact where she stood. 

Earth.

“You thought you were ready for this.”

Luna turned to her friend. Morgan was in her human form, clutching a large red bottle in her hand. She sat in a pile of ashes, the remnants of her home dirtying her jeans and sneakers. Bits of ash had flown into her hair, turning it gray. 

“Who did all of this?” Luna asked. If she could find the threat, together they could take it on. Avoidance was never the solution, least of all for Morgan. She was her own worst enemy in that sense.

She tried so hard to be ready for everything...yet also dreaded those moments, putting them off until it was too late.

“Goatman.” Morgan answered. She grabbed the bottle again, chugging down a swig. The red liquid sloshed around inside as she drank it down. Drips of it came from the corners of her lips, dripping onto her shirt to mix with the ash. “Don’t remember his name right now. Dream time is...it’s funny...been here awhile, got bored-”

“How did all this happen?” Luna asked. Was there a human threat in Morgan’s world, as there had been so long ago? A human plague that could wreck havoc so totally that even Morgan was afraid? What sort of human could do such a thing?

“Goatman burned it all.” Morgan answered. 

Luna could see the silhouette of this ‘Goatman’ on the dark horizon. She heard his laugh, a chill going through her body. The laughs of a gloater. They reached her ears in time with the screams. Luna realized this could be no human. For even as lost as they were, no human could strike such terror in her heart.

Morgan finished off the bottle. More of it dripped onto her shirt, soaking the chest. She paid it no mind. “He took my powers...came home. He burned down everything, killed everyone of my kind for their powers and then laid waste to the magicless planet.” Morgan explained. “It’s not a fun dream, is it?” She looked at her bottle, blinking slowly as her drinking worked fast. “This is empty. Why is the rum always gone...? I finally figured out how River Song did that trick and it’s  _ always gone _ ... _ it comes back every time... _ ”

Luna moved the bottle away with her magic. Kneeling down, she put her hoof in Morgan’s free hand. Teal green eyes met amber brown, sharp clarity met drunken haze, compassion met indifference.

“I swear, it will not harm your home. We will stop him.” Luna promised. “We all will. Your friends here, your family, we will rise to the occasion. We will not fail you.”

Morgan only smiled at Luna, knowingly and comfortingly. Luna understood what her friend was trying to say.

_ You don’t even know _

The mythic beast roared again. Luna looked towards it. Suddenly, in a sky on fire, Luna could see the barest outline to horns.

“Morgan who is that?” Luna asked. She suddenly knew the answer- feared the answer that was so obviously being given to her.

_ ‘He took my powers-’ _

_ ‘-killed everyone of my kind for their powers-’ _

_ ‘-She heard his laugh, a chill going through her body.’ _

Morgan stood, looking in the direction of this monster. “Goatman.”

Loud booming footsteps filled the terrain. The screams became distant, no doubt they were gone. “ _ Who is Goatman _ ?”

“I can’t remember- literally, I forgot what his name was.” Morgan held up the bottle. She grinned. “ _ I drink to forget...but I always remember. Tell me, Luna, how was your tea? _ ”

“How many of your dreams have you been drunk?” Luna asked, suddenly stressed along with Morgan.

“How long have you been coming?” Morgan countered. “You didn’t tell me. How’d you like your  _ tea _ ? _ Did you drink to remember, or forget? _ ”

“How do we stop him?” Luna asked.

Morgan laughed. A fearful, upsetting laugh. It bounced around her dream. The already dark sky turning black, smoke descending from the sky to polite the air Luna was breathing. More ash swirled around them in a consuming void.

“You can’t.”

==CAH==

-Luna stumbled back. She did not often stumble on exiting the dreams. Morgan’s dream had been...what was...

Raspberry sat up from the bed with a loud lawn. 

“You were right. You  _ could _ handle my nightmares.” Raspberry smiled. “That was a tame one, anyway.”

“Wha-”

“Just family drama.” Raspberry dismissed with a wave of her hoof. “The Equestria Games are coming and I’m nowhere near prepared. That flag thing, yeah I still have to do that. But I was mostly stuck with a crippling sense of self doubt of impending terror from those games and Equestria and Changelings are always at war. Yep. That’s what happened. You gave good advice!”

Luna’s mind was abuzz. She believed Raspberry to be trueful...saw no deceit in the words. As she tried to recall the dream, Raspberry’s words formed the images. A Crystal Empire swarmed by changelings, feuding with ponies.

Yes. That  _ would  _ be stressful for the wife of a Changeling.

“Yes...good advice...pray tell, what was that again?” Luna asked. 

Raspberry smiled reassuringly. “Sometimes to solve your problems, you have to forget about them.” Raspberry supplied. “Even if just for a bit. You know?”

“I do not.”

“Exactly!” Raspberry hopped from the bed. She walked back to the dining table in delight. “I’m not putting it off or anything like that. I’m just gonna stop letting it occupy my mind.”

As Raspberry explained it that way, Luna could see the advice she truly gave. Raspberry often misheard, or misinterpreted advice that wasn’t suited in her Plans. Luna thought it another quirk of her friend.

She herself was little better.

She had a vague recollection of her own words. Of telling Raspberry her friends could help. A problem shared was a problem halved after all-

_ ‘We will not fail you’ _

Raspberry picked up her tea set. She tucked them away into her Bag. From the butterflies on the pottery, Luna suddenly doubted they actually belonged to the Reality Traveler. 

“Where did you get those?” Luna asked.

She shrugged. “From a friend. Helped them in a tricky spot. All I got from it was a teapot.” Raspberry smiled, knowingly

Luna thought-

_ You don’t even know _

-it was a decent try at comforting.

“That is the cutiemark of Fluttershy. What boon did you give her?”

“Took a shift watching Discord. He was sick, did you hear?”

“I did. What a good friend you are in his time of need.” Luna praised.

Raspberry giggled, low and deep. “I  _ know _ .”

  
  



End file.
